Cup of Nesikhonsu
Third Intermediate Period
This cup made of blue faience belonged to Nesikhonsu, the wife of the High Priest of Amun Pinedjem II. A hieroglyphic inscription names Nesikhonsu and gives her the title "Osiris, Great Leader of the First Music Troupe of Amun" – a group of female musicians serving Amun-Re in his Karnak temple. It was one of 70 ritual cups that were used for libation rituals during Nesikhonsu’s funeral and buried within her tomb afterwards.
Nesikhonsu was buried in Theban Tomb no. 320 (TT 320) in Deir el-Bahari, otherwise known as the "Royal Cache." This mass burial also contained the bodies and funerary equipment of several family members, as well as more than fifty royal mummies from the New Kingdom, who had been re-buried following several tomb robberies in the Valley of Kings during the 21st Dynasty.
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