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Coffin and Animal Mummy

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

This wooden box contains an unidentifiable bird mummy and a mixture of soil and other debris. The simple rectangular design is constructed from six boards: one for each side, the top, and the bottom. It is likely that a layer of plaster once coated it, decorated by artists. Other animal coffins in this shape that retain their decoration show the animal before an offering table and the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, who mourn the deceased creature.

Wooden coffins of this type were more expensive than the clay jars used as coffins that are displayed nearby.
MEDIUM Wood, animal remains, linen
  • Reportedly From: Giza, Egypt
  • DATES 664-332 B.C.E.
    PERIOD Late Period
    DIMENSIONS 6 7/8 x 7 1/4 x 15 1/4 in. (17.5 x 18.4 x 38.7 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.1602Ea-b
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Flat wooden box with curved end. Inside a wrapped bundle containing an unidentified mummified animal.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Coffin and Animal Mummy, 664-332 B.C.E. Wood, animal remains, linen, 6 7/8 x 7 1/4 x 15 1/4 in. (17.5 x 18.4 x 38.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1602Ea-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth,er), 37.1602Ea-b_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 37.1602Ea-b_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 2012
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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