ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Coffin Lid of Baket

AAT Object Techniquepainting (image-making)

AAT Object Form/Functioncoffins

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodNew Kingdom, early Dynasty 18

Date1539-1479 BCE

MediumWood, pigment, gesso

Credit LineGift of Joseph A. Lewis II and Sofi Lewis

Dimensions80 x 24 x 25 in. (203.2 x 61 x 63.5 cm)

Object number2005.077.001B

Label TextBy the beginning of the New Kingdon (1539-1077 BC), the mummiform coffin had become the standard practice of interment and had evolved from the use of the mummy masks in earlier dynasties. The earliest examples of these coffins were painted with a white ground to simulate the bandaged mummy.

This example is beautifully carved of cedar imported from Lebanon. The features of the face of the coffin evoke the images of the Thutmoside pharaohs, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, and Amenhotep II, as the royal visage was traditionally used as a standard of beauty. A long striped wig, shown around the face, represents an ancient hairstyle associated with divinities. On top of the head and at the foot of the coffins are images of the mourning goddesses Nephthys and Isis, who traditionally weep for the departed.

At the breast of the coffin is a broad collar with falcon-headed terminals and, below that, a protective winged deity. Near the foot of the coffin are images of the jackal god of embalming, Anubis, lying atop a shrine. At the foot of the coffin are stripes of black and white paint that represent anklets. Underneath the lid on the interior of the coffin and along the inside bottom of the coffin are figures of a woman with outstretched arms, perhaps the Goddess of the West, ready to embrace the mummy during its journey to the land of the dead.

The sides of the coffin are decorated with large images of an udjat eye, "the eye of Horus", which had magical healing powers. Shown along with the eye on both sides of the coffin are figures of the guardian deities known as the Four Sons of Horus. Here they are shown all with human heads; later, they are most often depicted with only one human and three animal heads. These gods protected the liver, the intestines, the lungs, and the stomach. They were also invoked and depicted on canopic jars and chests, which held the organs after they were removed during mummification.

The bands of text that run down and across the lid and sides are inscribed with prayers and record the owner's name, "the Lady Baket." The coffin probably came from Thebes but has been in various collections since 1873 and, unfortunately, at some point the painted surfaces were damaged in a fire.
Exhibition HistoryFrom Pharaohs to Emperors: New Egyptian and Classical Antiquities at Emory, Michael C. Carlos Museum, January 14 - April 2, 2006
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, 2006 - February 25, 2013
Hall of Ancient Egypt, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, Texas, May 1, 2013 - Present
Published References"Fire Razes Howard Home, 'Maxwelton," Dayton Harold LXII, no. 24 (January 29, 1941), 1, 12-13.
Cleve Leshikar, "The Other Bidder was Out to Lunch," Austin Times Herald (?) (March 1, 1962).
Marj Wightman, "For This Antique, Unusual is Word," The Austin Statesman (March 1, 1962), 1.

ProvenanceSaid to have been found by a doctor from Philadelphia in Thebes, Egypt, 1873. Ex coll. Howell Howard (1898-1937), Dayton, Ohio. Thence by descent. Ex coll. Mr. Ganter, Reading, Pennsylvania, until 1962. Ex coll. Howard Hand, Austin, Texas, purchased from Abraham Birnbaum, New York, New York. Ex coll. Joseph and Sofi Lewis, United States, purchased from Pete Simons [World Artifacts: Ancient Art and Artifacts], Brooklyn, New York, May 10, 2005.

Status

Not on view

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