A Preliminary Analysis of the Cartonnage on the Child Mummy in the collection of the Australian Institute of Archaeology

Abstract

This is a preliminary analysis of the style and iconography of three cartonnage fragments found on the front of a Graeco-Roman Period child mummy in the collection of the Australian Institute of Archaeology. The iconography is closely associated with Osiris and is consistent with much Egyptian funerary art. Limited comparative analysis suggests that the mask belongs to a group of mummies from Akhmim, near Abydos and dates from the mid-first century BC to the mid-first century AD while the lower fragment belongs to a group from the Kharga Oasis and dates from around the birth of Christ to the mid-first century AD. Stylistic analysis of the upper fragment was limited by its poor state of repair and recent touching up.