Book of the Dead of Nebqed
Unknown · c. 1398-1349 BC (18th Dynasty)
Egyptians called it the Book of Coming Forth by Day, and it was less a book than a customised survival kit. A scroll of spells, illustrated with vignettes, was placed in the tomb so the dead person could name the gatekeepers of the underworld, deflect demons, breathe, drink, avoid having to work in the fields of the afterlife, and above all pass the judgement. This copy was made for Nebqed, a royal scribe and scribe of Maat, under Thutmose IV or Amenhotep III, and it runs more than six metres.
The papyrus was manufactured by beating and pressing strips of pith into sheets, then gluing them into a roll; the text is written in cursive hieroglyphs in black with rubrics in red, and the vignettes are drawn in outline and filled with flat colour. The most famous scene shows the weighing of the heart: the deceased's heart is set on a balance against the feather of Maat, truth, while Anubis adjusts the scales, Thoth records the verdict, and the monster Ammit waits to devour the failed. Elsewhere Nebqed stands in adoration before Osiris, and members of his family, including his mother Amenemheb, accompany him. Because the scroll is light sensitive, only a section is ever shown.
The papyrus belongs to the ancien fonds, the founding holdings of the Egyptian department: it was already at the museum by 1827, when Champollion became its first curator, and was formally catalogued in 1857. Books of the Dead were often produced in advance with blanks left for the owner's name, a piece of ancient off the shelf publishing, and a good scribe's copy like this one would have been an expensive commission.
Did You Know? Some Books of the Dead were mass produced with gaps left in the text where the buyer's name could be filled in later.
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