Canopic Chest of Tutankhamun (1342-1324 BC)
New Kingdom, late 18th Dynasty, from the Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), Valley of the Kings, West Thebes, Luxor, Egypt.
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Canopic chests are cases used by ancient Egyptians to contain the internal organs removed during the process of mummification.
Once canopic jars began to be used in the late 4th Dynasty, the jars were placed within canopic chests.
Although the first proven canopic burials date from 4th Dynasty reign of Sneferu, there is evidence to suggest that there were canopic installations at Saqqara dating from 2nd Dynasty.
The first canopic chests were simple and wooden, but as time went on, they became more elaborate.
Then, around the 21st Dynasty (1069β945 BC), Egyptians decided to leave the viscera inside mummies.
But because they had been using canopic chests for thousands of years, they kept putting them in tombs, just without anything in them.
Canopic chests fell out of use during Ptolemaic Kingdom.
The style and materials were different at different times, though always reflected Egyptian ideal of perfectly measured and precise beauty.
This alabaster canopic chest of Tutankhamun is considered to be one of the finest masterpieces of King Tutβs collection.
The interior of the chest is divided into four compartments, each with a cylindrical hollow covered by a lid elegantly carved in the form of the kingβs head.
At the four corners of the chest, carved in high relief, are four goddesses: Isis, Nephthys, Neith and Serket β who stretch out their arms to protect the contents of the chest.
Each of the four compartments of the canopic chest held a miniature coffin. Covered in linen, they stood upright in their cylindrical compartments.
Each was almost glued to the bottom owing to the hardening of the unguents that had been poured in as part of the ritual.
It was the duty of the goddess Nepthys, whose name is inscribed on the front, to protect the lungs of Tutankhamun, which were placed inside, after first being preserved.
The figure, fashioned of solid beaten gold, contains inlays of colored glass and semiprecious stones.
It is very close in design to the second coffin in which Tutankhamun was buried; in fact, it is almost a miniature version.
π Egyptian Museum, Cairo (JE 60687)
