Taperet’s sarcophagus from Memphis

As the key object of the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities, we have chosen a massive stone sarcophagus. It was carved in Egypt, probably in Memphis, around 600 BCE. The sarcophagus was made for a woman named Taperet. Her name is inscribed on it, which is also decorated with images of the Sons of Horus and hieroglyphs. Taperet was mummified and buried in the sarcophagus.

For over 2,000 years the sarcophagus remained untouched. But around 1820 the tomb was opened and Taperet’s sarcophagus was shipped by boat to Europe. A Greek businessman, who had adopted the more Italian-sounding name Giovanni Anastasi (1765–1860), arranged the transport. Anastasi was the Swedish vice-consul in Alexandria and sold, among other things, Egyptian antiquities to major museums in London, Leiden, and Paris. He gave Taperet’s sarcophagus as a gift to Sweden’s Queen Josefina (1807–1876) in 1825. Five years later, Anastasi had been promoted to consul general, awarded the Order of Vasa, and appointed a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Queen Josefina in turn donated the sarcophagus to the Nationalmuseum. For many years it stood outdoors in the courtyard of the Museum of National Antiquities on Narvavägen. In 1988, Taperet’s sarcophagus was moved to the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities on Fredsgatan. Today, the lid is displayed upstairs in the former bank hall.

The sarcophagus has been selected for this project because it is a representative part of the Egyptian collections at the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities. It was created long before European colonialism, yet it became a pawn in the international dealings of the 19th century. The sarcophagus illustrates how Egyptian history came to be regarded as a matter for Europeans rather than Egyptians. It is also an example of how the colonial infrastructure enabled Western scholars and explorers to plunder burial sites and exploit the imagination of ancient Egypt intellectually as well, by turning mummies into a kind of popular culture icon.

In 2025, the artist Sara Sallam (born 1991) will create a commentary on Taperet’s sarcophagus near the entrance of the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities. Sallam is from Cairo and is currently based in the Netherlands. She works with both photography and video and has completed several previous art projects inspired by Egyptian cultural heritage. We look forward to sharing her work with the public as it takes shape.