Canopic jar lid
Middle Kingdom
This sculpted head was the lid of a canopic jar, one of the four containers for the organs that were removed during mummification. In previous periods, canopic jars had simple disc-shaped or hemispherical lids. In the late First Intermediate Period to early Middle Kingdom, however, lids in the form of human heads were introduced.
The hooded eyes, marked cheek bones, and the lines beside the nostrils of this head can be compared to the features found in the quartzite face of Senwosret III (26.7.1394).
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