Getty Museum Launches Mummification Process Animation
By STAN PARCHIN
September 1, 2009
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Mummy of Herakleites with Cartonnage and Portrait. Roman Egyptian, 100-150 A.D. Wax tempera and gilding on a wooden panel; linen and encaustic. H: 175.3 x W: 44 x D: 33 cm (69 x 17 5/16 x 13 in.). J. Paul Getty Museum. |
The J. Paul Getty Museum recently launched on its Web site The Mummification Process, a cutting-edge animation that illustrates virtually the ancient Egyptian embalming process. With a running time of 2:43, the feature uses the Roman Egyptian Mummy of Herakleides (100-150 A.D.) as its subject.
Located in Gallery 206 of the Getty Villa, Herakleides' remains will be accompanied by a focus panel. A plasma screen will provide access to the mummy's state-of-the-art imagery and interpretation, produced by the museum's Collection Information and Access Department (CIA). Dynamic Diagrams was consulted regarding the animation's design. Associate Conservator of Antiquities Marie Svoboda and Associate Curator of Antiquities Mary Louise Hart developed the piece's keen scholarly content, reflected in its succinct and erudite narration.
Mummy of Herakleides
CT (computerized thermography) scans of the Mummy of Herakleides revealed that contrary to the usual Egyptian practices of mummification, the 20-year-old man's heart, not his lungs, were removed during embalming. Also uncommon in the scientists' findings was a mummified ibis, inexplicably placed on Herakleides' abdomen under the final layer of his mummy's wrappings.
Herakleides' portrait is characteristic of those produced in Roman Egypt's Fayum region. The lack of clothing on the youth's shoulders suggests he was an ephebe or adolescent male of social standing. His presumed nudity, a symbol of rebirth, indicates he may have been an initiate in the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis.
The Mummification Process, a remarkable addition to the Getty Museum's Web site, is suitable for use by instructors of World History, Global Studies, Western Civilization and Art History.
Sources
Bleiberg, Edward and Kathlyn M. Cooney. To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum (exh. cat.). Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 2008.
D'Auria, Sue, Peter Lacovara and Catharine H. Roehrig. Mummies and Magic: The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt (exh. cat.). Boston and Dallas: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Dallas Museum of Art, 1988.
Taylor, John H. and Nigel C. Strudwick. Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt (exh. cat.). Santa Ana: Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2005.
Walker, Susan (ed.), et al. Ancient Faces: Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000.
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