Brooklyn Museum Unveils Gilded Book of the Dead After Three-Year Conservation
The Brooklyn Museum has introduced Ankhmerwer's Book of the Dead, an extraordinary gilded papyrus from 305–30 BCE, following a three-year conservation led by expert Egyptologist Ekaterina Barbash and papyrus specialist Ahmed Tarek. This rare artifact, one of only ten gilded papyri remaining, is featured alongside the older Book of the Dead of Sobekmose, which dates to around 1500 BCE, in the exhibition titled "Unrolling Eternity: The Brooklyn Books of the Dead." Tarek's innovative conservation techniques sparked interest at the upcoming 2024 Papyrus Curatorial and Conservation Meeting in the Netherlands, highlighting the importance of these ancient texts in understanding Egyptian history.
Key facts
- The Book of the Dead of Ankhmerwer dates to 305–30 BCE.
- The conservation took three years and was led by Ekaterina Barbash and Ahmed Tarek.
- Removing the 19th-century acidic backing paper took 18 months.
- Tarek used Japanese tengujo paper and Klucel G adhesive.
- The techniques were presented at the 2024 Papyrus Curatorial and Conservation Meeting in the Netherlands.
- Only about 10 surviving gilded papyri are known, most fragmentary.
- The exhibition 'Unrolling Eternity' features both Ankhmerwer's and Sobekmose's Books of the Dead.
- Spell 125 involves the Negative Confession and weighing of the heart against the feather of Ma'at.
Entities
Artists
- Ekaterina Barbash
- Ahmed Tarek
- Ankhmerwer
- Sobekmose
- Taneferher
Institutions
- Brooklyn Museum
- DailyArt Magazine
Locations
- Brooklyn Museum, New York City, NY, USA
- New York City
- NY
- USA
- Netherlands