Bead Net Burial Ornament for an Egyptian mummy, close up of beads

Ancient Egyptian bead net chest ornament originally placed on mummified human remains within the coffin.  This rectangular diagonal mesh is 16 inches long and 7 inches wide, and is made of beads in varying shades of blue, from dark blue to light blue-green.  The beads are a type of worked quartz ceramic known as faience.  Blue-green faience was extremely common in ancient Egypt, and many items were made from it, including beads, tiles, and grave goods such as shabati. The border of the net features small beads in various shades of blue, while the interior of the net is made of long, tubular beads forming a diamond pattern.  These beads have been assembled to create a color pattern, with each line of the /\ pattern being the same color, contrasting with the color of the beads in the V opposite. This net was removed from the mummified human remains gifted in 1894 to the Barnum Museum's original tenants, the Bridgeport Scientific Society.  Undoubtedly the net ornament was removed when the Scientific Society decided to unwrap the linen bandages wound around the body, but there is no detailed documentation of their process.  At some time later the net was placed on a painted wood board and secured in place.  This is not an appropriate support, especially for long-term storage, but at least in having done this, it kept the piece from breaking apart as would likely have happened had it been loose inside a box.  The Museum will be addressing the storage concerns. Faience bead netting was frequently placed on the torsos of mummified human remains.  Current thought suggests that this netting was meant to mimic the style of netted clothing that was common in ancient Egypt, as evident by pieces such as the beadnet dress (27.1548.1) owned by the Boston Museum of Fine Art.  The Ashmolean's mummy of Djed-djehuty-iuef-ankh shows what these nets looked like when placed on the dead.  This particular net is quite small compared to other known nets, many of which are designed to cover the entire body.  The reason for the much smaller size is currently being researched, but one may speculate that it relates to cost, or to availability.