Description:

Egyptology


Ancient Egyptian Mummy Shroud Fabric Swatch with Excellent Provenance

 

A 2" x 5" woven linen strip pinned to a paper slip inscribed "Mummy Cloth Taken from a body that had been embalmed for over 3000 years. Given by Miss Lucy Bronddus, Taken from The School of Ancients". Finely and evenly woven and in very good to near fine condition. Minor split where strip fragment has long been folded. Deaccessioned from a Virginia museum.

 

The provenance indicates that this piece of mummy shroud dates from the Old Kingdom Period (2980-2623 BCE.) Anthropologists believe that ancient Egyptians first began intentionally embalming their dead around the tail end of this time period. The 70-day mummification process entailed removing the internal organs, desiccating the remains, wrapping the body in linen strips sometimes intricately painted or inscribed, and then applying resin and oils. Mummification enabled ancient Egyptians to best preserve their bodies for the afterlife.

 

This was once a part of the Luray Museum of Luray, Virginia, started by town resident Mary "Mollie" Zeiler Zerkle (1845-1933). According to family history, nineteen-year-old "Mollie" nursed Union soldiers after the 1864 Battle of New Market. She married Lemuel Zerkle, and the two lived in New Market, Virginia until 1890. That year, the family relocated to Luray, fourteen miles east across the Massanutten Mountain range, where Lemuel had secured a post as Superintendent of Luray Caverns. Local historian Daniel Vaughn reported that the museum operated between 1938-1960, after which point the collection was sold at auction.

 

Gene H. Baber of Fisherville, Virginia was an avid antique collector. His collection included everything from Civil War letters to epaulettes, from early frakturs to vintage wind-up toys.

 

Provenance: Estate of Gene H. Baber, Fishersville, Virginia; Collection of Mary "Mollie" Zeiler Zerkle and Lemuel Zerkle, Luray Museum, Luray, Virginia

 


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