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

ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Late Dynastic Coffin Lid

AAT Object Form/FunctionFunerary Container

AAT Object Form/FunctionCoffins

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period, Dynasty 27 - Dynasty 30

Date525-343 BCE

MediumWood, plaster, pigment

Credit LineCollected by William A. Shelton, funded by John A. Manget

Dimensions71 5/8 x 17 11/16 x 13 7/8 in. (181.9 x 45 x 35.2 cm)

Object number1921.003 B

Label TextThe angular, unpolished appearance of this coffin attests to the decline in quality of burial equipment during the later stages of Egyptian rule. The crude, unsophisticated decoration of this piece suggest that it was produced by a provincial artisan, rather than a high-status atelier.

On the lid, the divine wig and beard identify the deceased with Osiris, the god of the underworld who was killed by his brother Seth and subsequently resurrected. Despite its rough execution, the decoration of this coffin retains traditional motifs such as the goddess spreading her wings protectively across the body, and the mummy on the lion-shaped embalming bed. The Canopic jars, which would hold the mummified organs of the deceased, appear below the beds. The lids of the jars represent the four sons of Horus, who are also portrayed with mummiform bodies on the lower portion of the coffin.

Five columns of roughly executed text run down the center of the lid. The three central columns contain a standard formula for requesting offerings for the sustenance of the deceased in the afterlife. Unfortunately, damage has obliterated the name of the deceased. The two outer columns identify the flanking images of the four sons of Horus.

Exhibition HistoryA Preview of the Collections, Schatten Gallery, February 15 - April 4, 1982
Monuments and Mummies: The Shelton Expedition, Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, February 8 - June 25, 1989
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 11, 1993 - Spring 2001
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2001 - 2006
Shadow of the Sphinx: Ancient Egypt and Its Influence, Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York, June 17 - November 25, 2012
GE Presents: The Mystery of the Albany Mummies, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York, September 21, 2013 - June 8, 2014
Hall of Ancient Egypt, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, Texas, August 2014 - Present
Published ReferencesEmory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, A Preview of the Collections (Atlanta: The Museum, 1982), 8.
Michael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1996), 28.
Peter Lacovara, "The New Galleries of Egyptian and Near Eastern Art at the Michael C. Carlos Museum," Minerva (September/October 2001): 9-16.
Peter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, The Realm of Osiris (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2001), 56.

ProvenanceAcquired for Emory University Museum by William Shelton (1875-1959), ca. 1920.

Status

Not on view

Collections