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Ancient Egyptian Mummy

  • Image of "Mummy of Pasherienptah, Excvated at Thebes, Egypt, 22nd dynasty, ca. 945 - 730 BC (Gift of Egyptian Department of Antiquities)"

    Mummy of Pasherienptah, Excvated at Thebes, Egypt, 22nd dynasty, ca. 945 - 730 BC (Gift of Egyptian Department of Antiquities)

    Japanese Archaeology and Special Exhibition (Heiseikan) Thematic Exhibition Room
    July 13, 2010 (Tue) - September 20, 2010 (Mon)

    The Egyptian mummy in the Tokyo National Museum collection was one of the highlights of the Toyokan Gallery for many years. However, since the Toyokan closed for earthquake-proofing renovations in early 2009, it has been temporarily removed from display. It is now our great pleasure to exhibit the mummy once again, this time in the Heiseikan Gallery, together with a selection of funerary objects from ancient Egypt.

    The mummy was donated to the Imperial Household Museum (present-day Tokyo National Museum) by the Egyptian government's Department of Antiquities in May 1904, under the directorship of Gaston Maspero. The department was directed successively by French scholars circa this time.

    Although the background to the mummy's donation is unknown, a British legation attaché in Tokyo seems to have acted as an intermediary between the Department of Antiquities and the museum. The year 1904 marked the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Egypt at this time was ruled politically by the British, and relations between Japan and Britain were particularly amicable following the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty two years earlier.

    The mummy was excavated from an ancient tomb in Thebes, but again, the detailed context of its discovery is unknown. After its arrival at the museum, the anthropomorphic cartonnage coffin was sawn open in order to expose the mummy enclosed inside, as a pupa in a cocoon. Newspapers from the time - now over 100 years ago - show that visitors flocked to the museum in great numbers when this new exhibit was put on view. We hope this mummy, one of very few in Japan, provides an opportunity for viewers to understand more about life and death in ancient Egypt.

 Major works in this exhibition

* Works listed below are in the TNM Collection unless otherwise indicated.
Mummy Shroud of Padiinher, Excavated in lower Egypt, Roman Period, 1st century
Mummy of Pasherienptah, Excvated at Thebes, Egypt, 22nd dynasty, ca. 945 - 730 BC (Gift of Egyptian Department of Antiquities)
 Related Events

Gallery Talk "Mummies and the Ancient Egyptian View of Death"
Thematic Exhibition Room, Heiseikan
July 13, 2010, 14:00
Speaker: Goto Takeshi, Special Research Chair (West Asian Archaeology) (In Japanese)

 
 Pamphlet

A History of Early Glass: The Beginning of Glass Blowing_pamphlet  The Tokyo National Museum's Ancient Egyptian Mummy
 The pamphlet is distributed in Thematic Exhibition Room, Heiseikan during the thematic exhibition periods.
 PDF (5 pages PDF:1.06MB)