© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Peter Harholdt.

ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Coffin Base of Tanakhtnettahat/Ta-Aset

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodThird Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21

Date1076-944 BCE

MediumWood, pigment

Credit LineCharlotte Lichirie Collection of Egyptian Art

Dimensions42 15/16 x 11 7/16 x 20 7/8 in. (109 x 29 x 53 cm)

Object number1999.001.017A

Label TextThis coffin was made for the Lady Tanakhtnettahat, a chantress in the temple of the god Amun at Karnak. A particularly interesting feature of this coffin is that it shows extensive reworking on both the interior and exterior. The mummy that was inside the coffin (1999.001.018*), although clearly of the period, was rather poorly preserved, and examination revealed that none of her internal organs had been removed. An examination of the text revealed that Tanakhtnettahat's names have been erased and, in one case, written over with the name of a woman named Ta-Aset.

The style of the coffin is typical of the period, with brightly painted decorations sometimes rendered in gesso to give them a three-dimensional quality. Amuletic devices and vignettes from the Book of the Dead cover the exterior of the coffin, and these are all covered with a golden yellow varnish. Below the lid a "mummy board" or "coffin board," an outgrowth of earlier mummy masks, served as another location for various amuletic symbols to protect the body.** This ensemble of base, board, lid, and mummy would have been placed inside an outer coffin, which may be in the Musee de Grenoble, France.

The vignettes delicately painted on the sides of the coffin base (1999.001.017A) depict mythological scenes drawn from the Book of the Dead. The images on the proper left side of the coffin base begin at the foot end with the depiction of a pyramid-topped private tomb in the desert, guarded by Anubis and Hathor of Deir el-Bahri. Before this is a symbol of the goddess of the west and a scene of Tanakhtnettahat worshipping the tree goddess. The next panel depicts a divine barque being drawn through the heavens and adored by ba-birds. Tanakhtnettahat is then shown before two figures of Re enthroned in a kiosk, followed by an image of the god Thoth. The last scene shows the fetish of Abydos being praised by Nephthys and Isis, while Nephthys is depicted with wings outstretched at the head end of the coffin base.

The scenes on the proper right side of the coffin base show Osiris being praised by Nephthys and Isis. This is followed again by an image of Thoth and a composition with Nut, Shu, and Geb in their respective positions as emblems of the sky, air, and earth.

In addition to the altered inscriptions, there were a number of areas of ancient overpainting and restoration. The most extensive reworking seems to have been on the image of the goddess of the west shown on the bottom of the coffin base. This area seems to have been damaged, possibly by the removal of the mummy of Tanakhtnettahat, and then parts covered over and repainted for the burial of Ta-Aset. The figures of the gods on the interior sides of the coffin base have also been entirely painted over in red, and the only complete image that remains is that of Isis vanquishing a serpent, which appears at the head end. Although recycling of funerary material seems to have occurred in a number of burials from this period, this coffin shows unusually extensive alterations.

An additional piece to this puzzling coffin concerns fragments from an outer coffin of a similar style inscribed for a chantress of Amun named Tanakhtnettahat, now in Grenoble. These may have been left from the original burial, since they do not evidence the same erasures of the name; the missing lid and broken condition of the latter may give further weight to this supposition.

(Excerpted from Lacovara, Peter and Betsy Teasley Trope. 2001. "38 Coffin and coffin board of Tanakhtnettahat." In The Realm of Osiris: Mummies, Coffins, and Ancient Egyptian Funerary Art in the Michael C. Carlos Museum, edited by Peter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, 49-50. Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University.)

* The record for the mummy is not included in the Emory Digital Gallery.
** Search for 1999.001.017B to see the coffin board.
*** Search for 1999.001.017C to see the coffin lid.

A 3D model of the coffin's 3 elements is available here

Exhibition HistoryJuly Egyptian Preview, Michael C. Carlos Museum, July 18-20, 1999
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2001 - Present
Published ReferencesPeter Lacovara, "The New Galleries of Egyptian and Near Eastern Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum," Minerva (September/October 2001): 9-16.
Peter Lacovara, et al., "New Life for the Dead," Archaeology (September/October 2001): front cover, 22-23.
Peter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, The Realm of Osiris (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2001), 49-50.
Michael C. Carlos Museum: Highlights of the Collections (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2011), 22-23.
Susan Jaques, A Love for the Beautiful: Discovering America's Hidden Art Museums (Guilford: Globe Pequot Press, 2012), 43.
Yasmin El Shazly, American Research Center in Egypt. "Coffin of Tanakhtnettahat". (October 2020). https://www.arce.org/coffin-tanakhtnettahat
Associated 3D Model: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/coffin-of-the-lady-tanakhtnettahat-3bee7fdea04e49eb889aa840dd2c4d08

ProvenanceEx coll. Niagara Falls Museum, Niagara Falls, Canada. Purchased by MCCM from William Jamieson (1954-2011) [Golden Chariot Productions], Toronto, Canada.

Status

On view

Collections