Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy

Ptolemaic Period

332–30 B.C.

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.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

References

Title: Falcon-form case containing a corn mummy
Period: Ptolemaic Period
Date: 332–30 B.C.
Geography: Country of Origin Egypt
Medium: Painted gessoed wood; mummy: linen, resin, fiber
Dimensions: L. 49.5 × W. 17.5 × H. 13.5 cm (19 1/2 × 6 7/8 × 5 5/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Alex Seippel, in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2018
Object Number: 2018.628a–c
Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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