VMerit

VMerit
Merit's masked and partially shrouded mummy lying in her

coffin trough
The space around Merit's body was packed with fabric bearing her husband's
monogram. A sheet of linen was folded into a pad placed under the mummy and the
space under her feet and around her body was filled with eight rolls of bandages.[185] The
mummy was wrapped in a further sheet of linen over the top of the shroud, the end of
which was tucked under her gilded mummy mask. Her white shroud is stitched up the
back with a whip stitch using a thick cord.[185] In 2002 her mummy was sewed into a
custom-dyed nylon net to consolidate the fabric.[184]
The restored mummy mask of Merit

Merit's mummy is fitted with a mask made of cartonnage, a papier-mâché-like material
made from linen and plaster. It has inlaid eyes, of which only one original remains,
made of alabaster and obsidian with cosmetic lines and eyebrows of blue paste. The
surface is covered in gold leaf, now tarnished to a reddish colour, and the striped wig is
coloured with Egyptian blue. The broad collar is composed of alternating bands of
carnelian, dark blue paste imitating lapis lazuli, and turquoise. The pectoral necklace
below the collar is decorated with a blue and red vulture painted on a yellow
background. The mask was probably intended for Kha and was donated for his wife's
burial. By the time of discovery the mask had sustained some damage, particularly to
the back and sides, and one of the inlaid eyes was missing. This may be a result of the
mask being much too big for Merit's head, leading to collapse once placed in the coffin.
[184]
Alternatively, the damage and the missing eye have been attributed to rough
handling by Schiaparelli's workmen.[186][187] The mask was restored in 1967 but degraded
quickly and further restoration was carried out in 2002. It was placed on a new padded
mount in 2004. The back of the mask could not be restored as it was found detached
underneath the mummy, soaked in oils and resins and flattened by weight; it is now
stored separately.[184]
The wrapped mummy of Merit is 147 centimetres (4.82 ft) tall. She is positioned on her
back with her arms extended and hands nearly crossed over the pubis. Her age at
death is estimated to be between 25 and 35 years.[188] Estimates for her height in life
vary between 1.48 metres (4.9 ft)[166] and 1.60 metres (5.2 ft).[188] She wears a long,
crimped wig on her head,[164] which is turned slightly to the right.[184] Given her age at
death, her teeth have little wear but some teeth have been lost and others have cavities.
She is less well-preserved than her husband, with many of her ribs and vertebrae
broken and displaced by postmortem damage to the torso. No attempt was made to
remove her brain or other internal organs. Given that she was buried in a coffin intended
for Kha, her death was probably unexpected but her cause of death is unknown.[189][166]
Merit's broad collar is similar to this example composed

of nefer and palmette-shaped beads from the burial of three foreign wives of Thutmose III
Like Kha, her body wears metal jewellery. Around her neck is a triple-strand necklace of
fine gold beads; the strings have broken and the beads have scattered, with some being
seen by her ankles. Across her chest and shoulders is a gold and stone broad collar
similar in design to one from the burial of three foreign wives of Thutmose III[190] and the
collars seen on the coffins and mask of Thuya, the mother-in-law of Amenhotep III.
[191]
Her ears are double pierced and she wears two pairs of ribbed hoop earrings. She
wears four gold rings on her left hand; a further ring is seen behind her shoulder in X-
ray and CT images. This ring was either displaced from her finger by postmortem
damage[190] or was intended for her right hand and forgotten during the wrapping
process, being slipped into the shroud before burial.[169] A second gold ring was found
during conservation work, stuck to the back of her mask in the embalming resins. The
bezel is incised with an image of the goddess Hathor as a cow, wearing a menat-
necklace, standing on a boat. This design is similar to a ring found on the body of
Nefertity in tomb DM1159a.[169] Around her hips is a beaded girdle of metal cowrie shell-
shaped beads interspersed with strings of small non-metal beads. Similar girdles are
known from the burials of the Middle Kingdom princess Sithathoriunet and three of
Thutmose III's foreign wives. On each wrist are ten-stranded bracelets of metal and
non-metal beads with a sliding catch. They appear to have the same design as the
necklace and girdle and probably formed part of a set.[190][169] Merit was not equipped with
any funerary amulets, possibly because of her unexpected death.

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VMerit

Merit's masked and partially shrouded mummy lying in her

The restored mummy mask of Merit

Merit's broad collar is similar to this example composed

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