Cartonnage of Ankhtashepsit

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Cartonnage of Ankhtashepsit

Artist Unidentified

Period Third Intermediate Period (Ancient Egyptian, 1070–664 BCE)

Dynasty Dynasty 22 (Libyan) (Ancient Egyptian, 945–712 BCE)

Place of OriginEgypt, recently attributed to Beni Hasan (previously to Akhmim)

Date22nd Dynasty (945–720 BCE)

Dimensions70 × 15 1/4 × 12 3/8 in. (177.8 × 38.7 × 31.4 cm)

Mediumlinen, glue, thin plaster, and paint

ClassificationMummies and Mummy Cases

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1906.4

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionThis ensemble consists of two primary components: a two-part outer anthropoid coffin (1906.2A–B) and an inner cartonnage case (1906.4), both attributed to an individual named Ankhtashepsit. The cartonnage (1906.4) is a single envelope of layered linen stiffened with glue and plaster, molded directly over the mummy and painted throughout with iconographic and textual decoration. The surface features solar and funerary deities, repetitive offering formulae, and a molded, yellow-painted face representing the deceased. A black unstriated wig terminates in a narrow decorative band, and a feathered browband is painted across the forehead. The chest is adorned with a red-painted chemise and an eight-row broad collar, below which are modeled hands and a pectoral. The background is a deep blue, with decoration rendered almost entirely in white, accented with occasional red. Vertical and horizontal register bands are painted in broad blue stripes. At the chest, a winged scarab with a ram’s head and sun disk is flanked by jackals and unidentified standards. Other scenes include the judgment of the dead, an Abydos fetish flanked by offering scenes, seated and kneeling deities, and a depiction of the deceased in adoration before a cow-headed Hathor.

Label TextFor over a century, visitors to the Toledo Museum of Art knew this woman as “Ankh-tesh.” However, recent scholarship has shown that her name appears with several variant spellings on her coffin and cartonnage. A careful re-reading of the inscriptions now suggests her true name was likely Ankhtashepsit—a name that includes the hieroglyph of the standing hippo, a symbol of the goddess Taweret, protector of mothers and children. This correction not only aligns better with Egyptian naming customs of the era but also deepens our understanding of her identity and the beliefs surrounding her burial.Published ReferencesCatalog of a Collection of Egyptian Antiquities brought together and presented to The Toledo Museum of Art by Mr. Edward Drummond Libbey, 1906, p. 13, no. 4.

Davies, W.V. ed., Colour and painting in ancient Egypt, London, British Museum Press, 2001, p. 173.

Aston, David A., Burial Assemblages of Dynasty 21–25: Chronology, Typology, Developments, Vienna, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (Austrian Academy of Sciences Press), 2009, pp. 288-289.

Brech, Ruth, Spätägyptische Särge aus Achmim. Eine typologische und chronologische Studie, Gladbeck, PeWe‑Verlag, 2008, p. 33-36, 50.

Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, p. 72-73, repr. (col.) p. 72, (det.) p. 69, 73, 105.

Johnston, Kea Marie, Unseen Hands: Coffin Production at Akhmim, Dynasties 21–30, Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley, 2022, PhD diss, pp. 173-181, 556-560.

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, The Egypt Experience: Secrets of the Tomb, October 29, 2010- January 8, 2012.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Mummies: From Egypt to Toledo, February 3- May 6, 2018.