A Coffin Fragment with Chapters 1 and 72 of the Book of the Dead in the Náprstek Museum

The Naprstek Museum of Asian, African and American Cultures keeps a small collection of fragments of ancient Egyptian qeresu-coffins dated to the Late Period (ca. 747–332 BCE), specifically the Twenty-fifth Dynasty (ca. 747–664 BCE). Five of the six pieces came from the Monthu priests’ burials at Deir el-Bahri and have been already published in the past. The sixth unprovenanced specimen, Inv. No. P 4551, is dealt with in the present paper. While its provenience remains unknown it was accessioned as part of the former study collection of the Czechoslovak Institute of Egyptology, Charles University in Prague. The decoration of the piece comprises of depictions of two Sons of Horus, Amset and Hapi, with captions and partially preserved texts of two chapters of the Book of the Dead, namely the Chapter BD 1 and Chapter BD 72. Both of these spells represented typical components of the decoration of coffins. Based on the texts, the anonymous owner of the coffin could be identified as a woman. The stylistic analysis confirmed the dating of the fragment to the Twentyfifth Dynasty and its Theban provenience

Algorithm · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Coffin · Fragment (logic · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Ancient Near East History · History · Mathematics