Mummy of Katebet
- Audio guide stop: 361
- Gallery: Room 62
- Culture: New Kingdom
- Date: 1330BC-1250BC (coffin)
- Object type: human mummy, mummy-mask, cartonnage
- Materials: human hair; human tissue; plaster; linen; wood; stone (?); gold; sycomore fig wood
- Museum number: EA6665
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is the Mummy of Katebet, a remarkable example of funerary art from the New Kingdom. This beautifully preserved body belonged to a woman known in life as a Chantress of Amun in Karnak.
Her head tilts slightly to one side, and her hands rest over her pelvis with each finger carefully extended. A ring with a rectangular bezel rests on her left ring finger. The mummy is wrapped in layers of textiles and an external shroud decorated with color.
Katebet’s coffin is wooden and shaped like a human figure, originally made for a man but later adapted for her. It features painted figures of gods including Nut, Anubis, and Isis. Her mask, made of cartonnage, is gilded and includes real rings on the painted hands, with calcite ear studs marking the ears.
Her grave goods include two pectorals made of cartonnage, adorned with gold and silver foil, and a shabti figure, a small funerary object often used for labor in the afterlife.
Meticulously crafted and rich with symbolism, Katebet's mummy reflects the intricate beliefs and artistic traditions of ancient Egypt.
See it in person
Mummy of Katebet is on display in Room 62 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 361, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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