Cardboard mummy; Egypt, Ptolemaic period, 305- 30 BC.

Cardboard mummy; Egypt, Ptolemaic period, 305-30 BC.
Stuccoed linen, polychromed and gilded.
It presents restorations and Repainting on fracture lines.
Measurements: 41 x 35 cm (upper); 52 x 16 cm (lower).
This great Egyptian cartonnage, dated from the Ptolemaic Period (constitutes an outstanding example of the complex iconographic programs developed in the funerary contexts of late Egypt. Made in two parts and executed in stuccoed, polychrome and gilded linen, it is a large piece designed to cover and protect the mummy, integrating the deceased in a symbolic universe of religious and regenerative character.
The decoration is organized in two main registers of strong theological content. In one of them appears the goddess Maat, personification of cosmic order, justice and truth, accompanied by the five-row ousekh necklace and flanked by two jackals, traditionally associated with funerary protection and divinities linked to embalming and the necropolis. In the other register are represented the four sons of Horus, Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef and Qebehsenuef, guardians of the internal organs of the deceased, each one in charge of the protection of a canopic vessel. Above them appears the bâ bird, symbol of the soul and of the capacity of spiritual mobility of the deceased, also surrounding a column of hieroglyphs that reinforces the magical-protective character of the whole.
This type of cartonnage fulfilled an essential function within the Egyptian funerary ritual: it not only physically protected the mummy, but also acted as a support for symbolic transformation, ensuring the regeneration of the deceased and his integration into the divine order. In the Ptolemaic Period, marked by the interaction between Egyptian and Hellenistic traditions, these pieces reached a remarkable technical and iconographic development, with a strong tendency towards monumentality and decorative complexity. The use of gilding, stucco and painting reinforces the sacred dimension of the object, associated with sunlight and eternity. However, the piece presents restorations with Repainting on fracture lines, which evidences its long history of conservation and subsequent manipulation, usual in objects of this type due to the fragility of the organic support.
Overall, this funerary cartonnage is an exceptional testimony of the Egyptian conception of death as a process of transformation, in which the image, the hieroglyphic text and the material object act together to ensure the survival of the individual in the afterlife.