Abstract
Coffin Lid
Cartonnage
 

Schröder, Fachhochschule Hildesheim / Holzminden / Göttingen
Christchurch, Egyptian Mummy - Tash pen Khonsu

Object History:
Date/Period   Event/Action Taken

1800 A. D. bis 1888 A. D.  

Von Haast, the founder of Canterbury Museum arranged through Giglioli in Florence to have two Egyptian mummies sent from Cairo to Christchurch. The mummies arrived in 1888, after van Haast's death, at the Canterbury Museum Christchurch in New Zealand. (1) 

1957 A. D. bis 1957 A. D.  

One of them was exchanged with the Auckland Museum in October 1957. (2) 

1997 A. D. 

After more than 100 years, initiated by Roger Fyfe Curator of Ethnology Department, the Mummy was removed from display and transported to the Conservation Laboratory, to start examination and various conservation treatments. 

1998 A. D. 

To reconstruct a social and medical life history of the mummy, the museum planned to do a CT Scan of the wrapped mummy, lying in the lower coffin box. In preparation to safely shift it for scanning, the condition of the exterior of the mummy and the bottom part of the sarcophagus had been examined and stabilised. The consolidation treatments that were carried out with a complete condition report by Amy Ng were finished in early 1998 (3). X-rays had been taken in the Conservation Laboratory, by Mike Averill of Veterinary Sevices, to give a first glimpse and to determine the internal stability of the mummy, in preparation for the shift. They were sent to John Dennison, Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology at the University of Otago, for analysis (4). Also in 1998 the Egyptologist Peter Sullivan from Wellington deciphered the hieroglyphics and described all paintings and their meanings (5).
The CT Scanning was done by Roger Jackson, CT Radiology in Christchurch Hospital on 21 March 1998 which gave a 3D reconstruction with a thorough representation of the mummy. The results of the CT Scan were also analysed by John Dennison (6). 

2000 A. D. 

The lower coffin box and the wrapped body went back on display and the further conservation treatments on the coffin lid and the cartonnage started in September 2000. 

 

(1) (Literature Titles/Sources: unknown 1998)
(2) (Literature Titles/Sources: Canterbury Museum Library, Christchurch, RollestoneNew Zealand, The Mummy, EA 1989.13, AR1001.0. 1989)
(3) (Literature Titles/Sources: Sullivan, Peter 1998) pp 1-14
(4) (Literature Titles/Sources: Department of Anatomy and Struktural Biologie, Dunedin, New Zealand, Ta seps-pen khonsu - Preliminary Report. 1998) pp 1-3
(5) (Literature Titles/Sources: Sullivan, Peter 1998) p 13
(6) (Literature Titles/Sources: Dennison, K. John 1999) pp 31-42

back Continue