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Shrew Coffin of Pahapy

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

Bronze coffins added value to votive mummies and possibly were thought to help influence the god to help the petitioner. A man named Pahapy used this coffin for a shrew mummy. The Egyptians regarded shrews as guardians of the sun god Re and included requests to him in many types of animal cemeteries.
MEDIUM Bronze
  • Possible Place Made: Lower Egypt, Egypt
  • DATES 664–30 B.C.E.
    DYNASTY Dynasty 26, or later
    PERIOD Late Period to Ptolemaic Period
    DIMENSIONS 2 1/8 x 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 in., 0.6 lb. (5.4 x 3.8 x 8.9 cm, 0.25kg)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.411Ea
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Bronze animal coffin surmounted by a figure of an ichneumon. Inscription, partly unintelligible, on front and on one side.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Shrew Coffin of Pahapy, 664–30 B.C.E. Bronze, 2 1/8 x 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 in., 0.6 lb. (5.4 x 3.8 x 8.9 cm, 0.25kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.411Ea. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 37.411E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 37.411E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 2012
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