Cartonnage in the Shape of a Broad Collar
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
In Egyptian belief, rebirth required physical conception in the tomb. The ancient Egyptians recognized that magic was essential for the dead to conceive themselves for the next world.
These amulets and the broad collar with the gods Osiris, Isis, and her sister Nephthys encouraged male fertility and thus the creation of a fetus according to the Egyptians’ understanding of biology. The figurines were sometimes worn in this life, while the cartonnage broad collar adorned a mummy and for Egyptians ensured impregnation through reference to the story of Osiris and Isis’s conception of their son. Hathor, represented in the gold plaque here, was the goddess of physical love. She sometimes substituted for Isis in narratives of conception and birth.
Caption
Cartonnage in the Shape of a Broad Collar, ca. 1st century B.C.E.. Linen, gesso applique, 11 15/16 × 9 1/4 in. (30.4 × 23.5 cm) Matted dimensions: 12 7/16 × 10 in. (31.6 × 25.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, X744.1. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Title
Cartonnage in the Shape of a Broad Collar
Date
ca. 1st century B.C.E.
Period
late Ptolemaic Period to early Roman Period
Medium
Linen, gesso applique
Classification
Dimensions
11 15/16 × 9 1/4 in. (30.4 × 23.5 cm) Matted dimensions: 12 7/16 × 10 in. (31.6 × 25.4 cm)
Credit Line
Brooklyn Museum Collection
Accession Number
X744.1
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
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Frequent Art Questions
What is cartonnage made from?
Cartonnage is made out of linen or papyrus mixed with plaster, kind of like papier mâché.Ah, thanks!Tell me more.
The broad collar, or wesekh, likely originated with an ancient tradition of making necklaces from flowers. Here we see it reproduced in cartonnage, or plaster, to be placed on a mummy. Flower imagery was important in tombs because it had a connotation of rebirth as flowers die and come back each year.
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