ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Coffin Lid of Baket

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, the mummiform coffin had become the standard and had evolved from the use of the mummy masks in earlier dynasties. 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 the artistic standard. 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.
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 - February 3, 2025
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.

Terms

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

Collections