The University of Richmond Museums announces the conservation of the coffin belonging to the Egyptian mummy Ti-Ameny-Net. Following the exhibition in 2012 at the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University Museums, Ti-Ameny-Net’s body was gently cleaned and the linen wrappings were stabilized before returning to the Stuart L. Wheeler Gallery of the Ancient World in the Department of Classical Studies, University of Richmond. Attention is now turned to caring for the coffin, and these efforts are taking place and are viewable by the public on Fridays, 1 to 5 p.m., in the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum of Art, Modlin Center for the Arts.

Ti-Ameny-Net was a woman who lived in Egypt during the 26th Dynasty (ca. 685-525 B.C.E.). Her mummified body and coffin were sold to Professor Jabez L. M. Curry of Richmond College in 1875. Following her display at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, her body and coffin were transported to the University of Richmond, where she has remaines. Ti-Ameny-Net’s coffin is composed of painted linen plastered on wood and shows signs of wear including cracks in the wood and paint, areas of paint, linen and wood loss, insect damage, stains and dirt, and marks left by tools. If left unchecked, light, humidity, and other environmental factors will cause the coffin to deteriorate even more.
University of Richmond students, Mimi Hiebert, ’14, and Janelle Sadarananda, ’13, are currently working on this project under the instruction of professional conservator Chris Wilkins and faculty member Elizabeth Baughan, Assistant Professor of Classics and Archaeology. The aim of the conservation is to clean and stabilize the coffin against further deterioration as much as possible. The first step is conducting a condition assessment to determine the nature and extent of damage. Then, the students and conservator will use a variety of techniques to carefully remove dirt, soot, and debris from the coffin surface, re-adhere loose fragments of paint and linen, and reinforce the wooden structure. These efforts will ensure the stability of the coffin into the future.

On view in 2012 in the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, the exhibition Ti-Ameny-Net: An Ancient Mummy, An Egyptian Woman, and Modern Science featured the mummy of Ti-Ameny-Net, her elaborately decorated wooden coffin, and a selection of Egyptian artifacts from the collections of the Stuart L. Wheeler Gallery and the Lora Robins Gallery of Design, University of Richmond.