Papyrus Fragment of Deities in a Boat

Papyrus Fragment of Deities in a Boat

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Drawn in black on this scrap of papyrus is a boat with neither mast nor oars. Seated inside, their knees drawn to their chests, are the gods Khepri (embodiment of the rising sun); Shu (the god of the sky); Tefnut (Shu's wife and goddess of moisture); ibis-headed Thoth (god of wisdom and writing); and Isis (goddess of magic and granddaughter of Shu and Tefnut). This is probably meant as an illustration of Spell 100/129 of the Book of the Dead, for "making a transfigured spirit excellent, and letting him/her go down to the boat of Re (the sun god) with his entourage." The papyrus was found inside a pot that was part of an "embalming cache," a collection of material that had been used for mummification.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Papyrus Fragment of Deities in a BoatPapyrus Fragment of Deities in a BoatPapyrus Fragment of Deities in a BoatPapyrus Fragment of Deities in a BoatPapyrus Fragment of Deities in a Boat

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.