Canopic jar with a human-headed lid

Late Period, Saite

664–525 B.C.

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 127

Canopic jars were made to contain the embalmed viscera removed from the body in the process of mummification. The organs were placed under the protection of the Four Sons of Horus, whose heads form the lids of the jars: Hapy (baboon-headed), Imseti (human-headed), Duamutef (jackal-headed), and Qebehsenuef (falcon-headed). In turn these gods were under the protection of the goddesses Nephthys, Isis, Neit, and Selqet, respectively, as the inscriptions on the jars state.
This jar was under the protection of Imseti and Isis and would probably have contained the liver.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: Canopic jar with a human-headed lid
Period: Late Period, Saite
Dynasty: Dynasty 26
Date: 664–525 B.C.
Geography: Possibly from Upper Egypt, Thebes; From Egypt
Medium: Travertine (Egyptian alabaster)
Dimensions: Jar with lid: H. 38 × Diam. 22 cm (14 15/16 × 8 11/16 in.); Jar: H. 25.5 × D. 21.5 × Circ. 67 cm (10 1/16 × 8 7/16 × 26 3/8 in.); Diam. of rim (jar): 13.1 cm (5 3/16 in.); Diam. of base (jar): 12 cm (4 3/4 in.); Lid: H. 16.5 × W. 17 × D. 18.4 cm (6 1/2 × 6 11/16 × 7 1/4 in.); Diam. of foot (lid): 11.5 cm (4 1/2 in.)
Credit Line: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
Object Number: 30.8.125a, b
Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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