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Canopic jar with a lid in the shape of a royal woman's head
Thebes, Tomb 55, Valley of the Kings, Dynasty 18, late
reign of Akhenaten (ca. 1349-1336 B.C.) or shortly after
Alabaster with glass and stone inlays; h. 20 1/2 in.
Jar: Gift of Theodore M. Davis, 1907
Lid: 07.226.1
Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
30.8.54

Canopic jars were used to store the internal organs (liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines) removed from the body during mummification. This canopic jar and the three others in the set, now in Cairo, were discovered in a tomb whose contents have puzzled archaeologists since it was first opened in 1907. The difficulties in understanding the finds from Tomb 55 stem from the great number of different names on the partly decayed objects and the presence of only one (male) mummy. Among the people named on various objects, such as a gilded shrine and coffin and the four canopic jars, were Queen Tiye (TEE-ah), the principal wife of Amenhotep III; Queen Kiya (KEE-ah), second wife of Tiye's son Akhenaten; Akhenaten himself; and the erased names of yet another pharaoh.

According to present understanding, Tomb 55 contained the remnants of several royal burials that originally were entombed at Amarna, were plundered and partly destroyed after Akhenaten's death, and then were transferred to Thebes and the Valley of the Kings during the reign of Akhenaten's successor, Tutankhamun. Before or during these proceedings the inscriptions on the canopic jars, which were originally dedicated to Kiya, were changed first to the names of Akhenaten and then were almost completely erased, possibly for use by a third person. This does not mean, however, that the beautiful head on the lid necessarily belonged to Kiya, for whom the jars evidently were made. Indeed, closer inspection seems to indicate that the four lids were not originally part of the jars. Taken on their own, the features of the face closely resemble those of Queen Tiye, Akhenaten's mother, who lived in her old age at Amarna and died and was buried there. The only difference from known portraits of the queen made at that time is that this is the head of a young woman, not an old one. Of course, this is how Egyptians preferred themselves to look in images created for the afterlife.

The rich patterns of the woman's heavy wig and the intricate details of her collar contrast with her smooth face and the soft surface of the large jar. The triangular face with its aristocratically thin nose, small mouth, and almond-shaped eyes under highly arched brows seems to float above the shadow between the pointed ends of the wig. Symmetry and repetition of oval shapes are in harmony with an expression of serenity and regal bearing. As in many canopic jar heads, attention is drawn especially to the eyes, through which the deceased woman connects with the world of the living. Large black pupils of obsidian are set between lids inlaid with a light brown stone that lends softness to the gaze. The expressively pointed arches of the brows are emphasized by bright blue glass inlay. Sensitive modeling of the features creates an impression of the delicate freshness of real skin, an effect here achieved by a master sculptor who took full advantage of the translucent quality of the stone.

Notice: expression, materials, and their effects

Discuss: what the object was made for, symmetry, repetition, contrast, modeling of the face, identity of the owner

Compare: Sphinx of Senwosret III, Fragment of the head of a queen, Tutankhamun wearing the blue crown, and Portrait of a boy

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