The Funerary Equipment of the Chantress of Amun Iwesenhesetmut

The blog post for this week is written by Glenn Janes, who was born in Wiltshire, England in 1954 and educated at Marlborough Grammar School and North East Essex Technical College and School of Art. A professional violinist for many years with the BBC Northern Symphony Ochestra and the BBC Philharmonic, his interest in Ancient Egypt dates back to the British Museum’s Tutankhamen Exhibition of 1972. Glenn gained a Certificate in Egyptology with Distinction under Professor Rosalie David at the University of Manchester and has made shabtis his speciality since then as an independent researcher visiting museums all over the world and meeting leading scholars in the subject. He is the author of a number of well received catalogues and books on shabtis, as well as a book about the Dutch ‘absurd realism’ artist Jean Thomassen.

This blog post presents an overview of the burial equipment of the Chantress of Amun, Iwesenhesetmut, whose inner anthropoid coffin is now housed in the Egypt Centre. She is known to have had a fine set of anthropoid coffins that were found complete with her mummy. These were probably acquired in Luxor sometime between 1817 or 1818 by Rev. Robert Fitzherbert Fuller (1794–1849). It has been suggested that Giovanni Belzoni might have been involved in the excavating and then the selling of the assemblage and presumably other items of the deceased’s funerary equipment because he was ‘working’ in Egypt at that time. However, there is no conclusive proof of this. Perhaps because the Fuller family did not like the idea of having the mummy and coffins in their home in Sussex, Robert presented the whole lot to the Devon and Exeter Institution in Cathedral Close, Exeter in 1819. The contents of this institution were transferred to the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter in 1868. The outer coffin was destroyed by insect infestation sometime prior to the date of the transfer to Exeter, and the mummy of Iwesenhesetmut was cremated, seemingly without reason, in Exeter crematorium in 1973 (fig. 1).

Fig. 1: Coffin (W1982) and mummy of Iwesenhesetmut with C.V. Anthony Adams, early 1960s (Dodson 2011, fig. EXE.3.1)

The inner coffin for Iwesenhesetmut was given as a gift to the University College, Wellcome Museum, Swansea in 1982 and it is now to be found in the Egypt Centre (W1982). The coffin is typical of the Twenty-first Dynasty: crowded scenes of the afterlife painted on a white background, which has since turned yellow because of the ancient varnish used (figs. 2–3). Scenes on the coffin include the ‘weighing of the heart’, during which time Iwesenhesetmut’s heart is weighed against the feather of truth. If the heart is lighter than the feather, then she has led a good life and can proceed to the afterlife. However, if it is heavier, Iwesnnhesetmut’s heart would be eaten by Ammut (the devourer), who was part lion, crocodile, and hippopotamus. The coffin was briefly published by Kate Bosse-Griffiths, the former curator of the collection at Swansea (Bosse-Griffiths 1984; 1991). For the decoration of the coffin, see the following resources. A mummy-board (A417) for Iwesenhesetmut is still to be found in Exeter (Dodson 2011, Fig. EXE.4.1).

Fig. 2: Coffin of Iwesenhesetmut (W1982)

Fig. 3: Coffin lid of Iwesenhesetmut (W1982)

Iwesenhesetmut is also well-known from her shabti figures (Janes 2002, 64–65). Figure 4 is a mummiform shabti wearing a tripartite wig with striations added in black. The wig is very voluminous where it rises on the top of the head towards the back. The arms, which are poorly defined, are crossed above the waist and each hand carries a hoe. The one carried in the right hand is painted in a higher position than the one held in the left. The face is poorly shaped and only the eyes and brows, which are widely spaced, are shown in paint. The eyes have quite long cosmetic lines. Ears are not indicated. A diamond–hatched basket with loops for attaching a carrying cord or rope is painted on the back. Seven columns of a painted inscription give the name of the owner as Iwesenhesetmut with titles of Lady of the House and Chantress of Amun–Re, King of the Gods. The titles and name are followed by a version of Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead.

Fig. 4: Shabti of Iwesenhesetmut

Of the parallel shabtis so far known for Iwesenhesetmut, unlike the previous example, some of the workers wear a seshed-headband around the wig. The implements are either just painted on the shabti, while others in the series are modelled in raised relief and painted. The arms on some of the worker shabtis are crossed right over left or left over right. The ‘overseer’ shabtis wear a short bipartite wig with a seshed-headband added in black. The lower ends of the front lappets are detailed with vertical lines, a feature that was often modelled on ‘overseer’ shabtis. The edge of the wig is highlighted in black around the face. The right hand carries a whip that is modelled in relief and painted black or, on one of the known examples, just painted and not modelled in relief. The apron on the shabtis is long and reaches down to the ankles. Some of the ‘overseers’ are inscribed with Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead, while others just have a single vertical column giving Iwesenhesetmut’s titles and name (fig. 5). It is interesting to note that the fully inscribed ‘overseers,’ despite having the complete version of Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead thus giving duties and tasks, carry no implements with which to help undertake them—they carry the whip as to be expected on ‘overseer’ shabtis whose duty was to keep the worker shabtis at their tasks.

Fig. 5: Overseer shabtis for Iwesenhesetmut in the University Museum of Aberdeen and Bonhams)

The opening vignette from a funerary papyrus for Iwesenhesetmut was once to be found in Darmstadt (Hessisches Landesmuseum) but it was destroyed in World War II. A stone heart scarab is also recorded as being in Darmstadt (fig. 6), which Morkot (2016, 365) notes was also destroyed in World War II. However, it was only damaged by a fire that resulted from the museum being partly destroyed by a bomb strike on 11th September 1944 (Droste zu Hülshoff & Schlick-Nolte 1984, 25). The original record or inventory cards were destroyed, hence why it has no official number. A further fragment from a Book of the Dead papyrus for Iwesenhesetmut is to be found in Brooklyn (37.1801E). This was once in the Edwin Smith Collection before being given to the New York Historical Society in 1907. It was loaned to Brooklyn Museum from 1937 before being acquired by them in 1948 (Ritner 2010, 173).

Fig. 6: The base of a heart scarab inscribed for Iwesenhesetmut
(Hessisches Landesmuseum, Darmstadt).

The name of Iwesenhesetmut’s parents or husband is not given on the coffins, heart scarab, shabti, or papyri. However, papyri for a certain Lady of the House and Chantress of Amun-Re, King of the Gods, Nesikhonsu to be found in Copenhagen (Papyrus Carlsberg 488, formerly in the H. O. Lange Collection, bought from the well-known Cairo antiquities dealer, Maurice Nahman in 1929) and Houston (Museum of Fine Arts 31.72 – formerly in the Annette Finnegan Collection, bought from the well-known dealer Mohareb Todros in Luxor for EG£30) give the name of her mother as Iwesenhesetmut (Christiansen & Ryholt 2016, 4–5 [no. 2], pls. 13–21; Ritner 2010, 167–174, pls. I–IV). Because the latter is such an unusual name that is not known from any other source, they must indeed be mother and daughter with Nesikhonsu following her mother into the profession of being a Chantress (fig. 7). Another papyrus in Houston (Museum of Fine Arts 31.73 – also formerly in the Annette Finnegan Collection) Nesikhonsu, although with an extra title, Singer in the Choir of Mut, might also belong to the same lady (Ritner 2010, 168).

Fig. 7: Papyrus of Nesikhonsu (https://emuseum.mfah.org/objects/44453)

Iwesenhesetmut’s titles of Lady of the House and Chantress of Amun–Re, King of the Gods were fairly common and indicate that she was a religious singer—probably attached to a temple—and as such she would have been held in high esteem. Schneider (1977 I, 330) states that during the Third Intermediate Period only high-ranking persons had their shabtis inscribed with the full shabti formula and usually only found on larger sized shabtis. However, Ritner (2010, 176) comments that holders of these titles suggests a person of lower rank. Surely the fact that Iwesenhesetmut had a seemingly fine set of coffins and other items of funerary equipment, including fully inscribed shabti figures, whilst not being in the upper echelons of the female priesthood, would indicate she would still have a been of considerable importance.

 

Bibliography:

Bosse-Griffiths, Kate 1984. Cerddores yn Cwrdd âí Duwiau = A musician meets her gods. Swansea: Swansea College.

Bosse-Griffiths, Kate 1991. Remarks concerning a coffin of the 21st Dynasty. Discussions in Egyptology 19, 5–12.

Christiansen, Thomas and Kim Ryholt 2016. The Carlsberg Papyri 13: Catalogue of Egyptian funerary papyri in Danish collections. CNI Publications 41. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.

Dodson, Aidan 2011. Catalogue of Egyptian coffins in provincial collection of the United Kingdom I: the south west. Available at: https://cpb-eu-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.bristol.ac.uk/dist/7/677/files/2020/07/Exeter-cat-5a.pdf

Droste zu Hülshoff, Vera von and Birgit Schlick-Nolte 1984. Museen der Rhein-Main-Region, Lieferung 1: Aegyptiaca diversa, Teil 1. Corpus antiquitatum Aegyptiacarum: Lose-Blatt-Katalog ägyptischer Altertümer. Mainz/Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.

Janes, Glenn 2002. Shabtis: a private view. Ancient Egyptian funerary statuettes in European private collections. Paris: Cybèle.

Morkot, Robert G. 2016. Eaten by maggots: the sorry tale of Mr Fuller’s coffin. In Price, Campbell, Roger Forshaw, Andrew Chamberlain, and Paul T. Nicholson (eds), Mummies, magic and medicine in ancient Egypt: multidisciplinary essays for Rosalie David, 355–368. Manchester: Manchester University.

Onstine, Suzanne Lynn 2005. The role of the chantress (šmꜥyt) in ancient Egypt. BAR International Series 1401. Oxford: Archaeopress.

Ritner, Robert K. 2010. Two Third Intermediate Period Books of the Dead: P. Houston 31.72 and P. Brooklyn 37.1801E. In Hawass, Zahi and Jennifer Houser Wegner (eds), Millions of jubilees: studies in honor of David P. Silverman 2, 167–183. Cairo: Conseil Suprême des Antiquités.

 Schneider, Hans D. 1977. Shabtis: an introduction to the history of ancient Egyptian funerary statuettes with a catalogue of the collection of shabtis in the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden, 3 vols. Collections of the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden 2. Leiden: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.