Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy

Ptolemaic Period

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134

This falcon-headed coffin does not contain an actual mummy but a symbolic Osiris mummy stuffed with grain and sand. The falcon head on the coffin and the hieroglyphic text on the painted lid indicate it is associated with the funerary deity Ptah-Sokar-Osiris.

Such coffins and 'mummies' were prepared and buried in annual rites at certain centers as part of the mysteries of Osiris. Subsequent germination of the grain would symbolize the possibility of new life offered by Osiris.

This particular example is of a type associated with the site of Tuna el-Gebel.

Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber

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Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy, Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber

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