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

ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Coffin Base of a Priestly Official

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodThird Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21

Date1076-944 BCE

MediumWood, painted gesso

Credit LineCharlotte Lichirie Collection of Egyptian Art

Dimensions73 5/8 x 21 1/4 x 11 in. (187 x 54 x 27.9 cm)

Object number1999.001.013 A

Label TextThis coffin appears to have been made for a priestly official in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, but it was never finished. The hieroglyphic text that would have recorded the name of the owner was left blank, although it does bear the titles of priest ("god's father") and scribe. In addition, the coffin never received its outer coat of yellow varnish, leaving the colors, particularly the "Egyptian blue," as vivid as the day they were painted. While most colors used by the ancient Egyptians were simple mineral pigments, this bright blue is a ground glass-frit colored with copper. This process produced a remarkably stable blue and was prized throughout the ancient world.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, October 6, 2001 - Present
Published ReferencesPeter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, The Realm of Osiris (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2001), 48.
Darrah Johnson-McDaniel, Christopher A. Barrett, Asma Sharafi, and Tina T. Salguero, "Nanoscience of an Ancient Pigment," Journal of the American Chemical Society 135 (2013): 1677-1679.
Lesley Jackson, "Divine Serpents," Nile Magazine 41 (2025): 26.

Terms

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