ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Headrest with Fluted Pedestal

AAT Object Form/Functionheadrests

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodOld Kingdom

Date2543-2120 BCE

MediumCalcite ("Egyptian alabaster")

Credit LineCollected by William A. Shelton, funded by John A. Manget

Dimensions9 x 7 13/16 x 3 11/16 in. (22.9 x 19.9 x 9.3 cm)

Object number1921.007

Label TextThis elegant calcite headrest, consisting of three parts pegged together, was probably carved specifically for funerary use. It would have been placed under the head of the mummy as it lay on its left side in the coffin. Other headrests, often made of wood, were used as pillows for sleeping during life.

As early as Dynasty 3, headrests were portrayed on tomb walls and funerary stelae, attesting to their role in creating a comfortable afterlife. Further evidence for the significance of headrests is provided by their inclusion in even the poorest burials during the Old Kingdom. Ultimately, full-size headrests would be replaced by miniature versions, amulets often inscribed with Chapter 166 from the Book of the Dead, promising protection for the head of the deceased.
Exhibition HistoryA Preview of the Collections, Schatten Gallery, February 15 - April 4, 1982
Monuments and Mummies: The Shelton Expedition, Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, February 8 - June 25, 1989
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 11, 1993 - January 1999
Africa's Egypt, Memphis Museum System, Memphis, Tennessee, February 20 - September 24, 1999
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, January/February 2000 - Spring 2001
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2001 - August 5, 2011
Life and Death in the Pyramid Age: The Emory Old Kingdom Mummy, Michael C. Carlos Museum, September 10 - December 11, 2011
MCCM Permanent Collection Gallery, February 2012 - Present
Published ReferencesEmory University of Museum of Art and Archaeology, A Preview of the Collections (Atlanta: The Museum, 1982), 8.
Michael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum 1996), 18.
Peter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, The Realm of Osiris (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum 2001), 27.
Peter Lacovara, "Life and Death in the Pyramid Age," Minerva (September/October 2011): 13, figure 4.
Susan Jaques, A Love for the Beautiful: Discovering America's Hidden Art Museums (Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2012), 41.

ProvenanceAcquired for Emory University Museum by William Shelton (1875-1959), ca. 1920.

Status

On view

Collections