Pectoral of Mutnefret

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This pectoral would have been placed over the chest of the deceased, and probably sewn to the mummy’s wrappings, as the pierced holes at its top and bottom suggest. The pectoral is shaped as a pylon with a cavetto cornice. The front panel shows two kneeling figures adoring a scarab and the reverse with a boat with twin Djed-pillars. In the middle, the scarab’s back appears inscribed with a spell--often found in Books of the Dead—that addresses the deceased’s heart (see translation).

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.

Metropolitan Museum of Art