Letter from Samuel W. Brown to Miss A. M. Knapp

Samuel W. Brown
Date: March 7, 1916
Author: Samuel W. Brown
Recipient: Miss A. M. Knapp
Purpose: Condition of Egyptian mummies
Materials: Paper, ink
Credit: Albany Institute of History & Art
Catalogue Number: ms-2187
Comments:
Seven years after purchasing two mummies for the Albany Institute and Historical and Art Society (now the Albany Institute of History & Art), Albany businessman Samuel W. Brown typed this short note to a Miss A. M. Knapp where he discusses the mummies and their coffins. According to the note, one of the mummies was believed to have been female and the other male. In 2012, x-rays and CT scans confirmed that the formerly identified female mummy is actually male. That mummy is firmly identified as Ankhefenmut, a 21st Dynasty priest and sculptor at the Temple of Mut in Karnak. Brown also indicates that some of the parts of both coffins were several damaged or destroyed. The mummy board and coffin lid for Ankhefenmut's coffin survive in the British Museum, London, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, respectively. To date, only the base is known to exist for the Institute late period mummy.