'The Unlucky Mummy'

Wooden mummy-board; painted detail on plaster.

Egypt, early 22nd Dynasty, about 945 BC.
Wood
Height: 162 cm.
Donated through: Mrs Warwick Hunt. Donated by: Arthur F Wheeler. Acquired in 1889.
EA 22542

This exquisitely painted mummy-board formed the innermost covering of the mummy of a woman of high rank. During the 21st and early 22nd Dynasties such sculpted and painted covers had come to replace the masks which were placed over the heads of mummies in earlier periods. The name of the owner of this example is not preserved, but the style of the decoration is a sure guide to its date and provenance (Thebes). The deceased wears a very large floral collar, through which her open hands protrude, and below this is a complex arrangement of images of deities associated with the afterlife: solar discs and falcons, the winged sky-goddess Nut, ba birds and emblems of Osiris.

Since its acquisition in 1889, the mummy-board has become one of the most famous icons of the British Museum, though not on account of its historical importance or artistic quality. It has become the focus for a vast web of modern mythology which has its origins in the popular notion that to disturb an ancient Egyptian burial could bring down a 'curse' on those directly responsible (and even on persons only remotely involved). Although the body of the original owner has never been identified (and is not in the British Museum) the board has acquired the misleading title of 'the Unlucky Mummy'. The stories surrounding it have been perpetuated and elaborated through oral tradition, popular journalism and, more recently, via the internet. The four English travellers who brought the mummy-board from Egypt in the 19th century are said to have suffered premature death or injury, and similar misfortunes reputedly befell many others. On an early photograph of the board, the carved and painted face is supposed to have been miraculously replaced by the features of 'a living Egyptian woman of malevolent aspect.' Perhaps the strangest tale associated with the board is that it was sold to an American collector and sent to the USA on the Titanic in 1912, causing the ship to collide with an iceberg and sink. Although proof of the mummy-board's alleged supernatural powers is completely lacking, the mythology surrounding it continues to evolve.