Bolton Egyptian coffins' 5000 mile journey

The wooden outer coffin and cartonnage mummy case of the priest Duaneteref entered the Museum in 1892 from the excavations of archaeologist Flinders Petrie at the site of Illahun in Middle Egypt.

They were requested for loan to the touring exhibition Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. The exhibition previously had no coffins, and the Bolton objects filled a significant gap in the display.

Excavating Egypt is currently on view at the New Mexico Museum of Art until January 2008. It will tour to four other venues in the United States before returning to Bolton in June 2009.

Duaneteref’s inner mummy case is made out of cartonnage, a mixture of glue-soaked linen covered with painted plaster. One Egyptian word for coffin is the same as the word for ‘eggshell’.

This evokes the metaphor of the dead person bursting reborn out of his coffin but is also a suitable term to refer to the extremely delicate cartonnage mummy cases, which crack and crumble easily under rough treatment.

Duaneteref’s cartonnage mummy case has been in poor condition for many years, and could not be exhibited or safely transported for long distances. At some point the head was damaged by water and re-shaped. Although designed to carry a mummy lying down, the cartonnage was displayed for a long time standing upright, and its feet crumpled under its weight.

It needed extensive (and expensive) specialist conservation to restore it to its original shape, and to make it fit for display and travel. The borrowing museums agreed to meet the costs of specialist conservation if the coffin and cartonnage were loaned to the exhibition.

More Information

To find out more about this fascinating conservation work visit the Duaneteref Coffins section of this site.