Canopic Jar and Lid (Depicting a Hawk)
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
Canopic jars first appeared in the tomb of Hetepheres, the mother of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid. They were intended to hold the separately mummified internal organs. The middle-class examples of canopic jars, which first appeared seven hundred years later, are often dummies like these, never hollowed out to hold the organs, but still included in the tomb. Canopic jars demonstrate the development of a custom at a royal cemetery that was then adopted in a cheaper form by the middle class.
MEDIUM
Limestone
DATES
664–525 B.C.E., or later
DYNASTY
Dynasty 26
PERIOD
Late Period
DIMENSIONS
10 1/4 in. (26 cm) high x 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm) diameter
(show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER
37.895Ea-b
CREDIT LINE
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Limestone canopic jar (b) with stopper (a) having falcon’s head (Kebehsenuef). Inscribed for a man named Hor. Four column inscription within a rectangular panel incised on the vessel.
Condition: Eyes and beak still retain black paint. Some scuffing of the body. Otherwise the piece is in excellent condition.
Found with 37.894E and 37.896E-.897E.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Canopic Jar and Lid (Depicting a Hawk), 664–525 B.C.E., or later. Limestone, 10 1/4 in. (26 cm) high x 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm) diameter. Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.895Ea-b. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.895Ea-b_front_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE
front, 37.895Ea-b_front_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
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