Coffin and corn mummy with Osiris mask

Unknown

400–200 BC · coffin: wood, paint mummy: grain, sand, clay and/or soil, resin, linen bandages mask: wax · Egyptian Art

These falcon-headed coffins do not contain actual mummies but symbolic Osiris mummies stuffed with grain and sand. The falcon head on the coffins and the hieroglyphic text on the painted lid indicate they are 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. Both this example and acc. no. 58.106a–d belong to a typological group, although this group cannot at this time be associated with any particular site.

Artist

Unknown

Date

400–200 BC

Medium

coffin: wood, paint mummy: grain, sand, clay and/or soil, resin, linen bandages mask: wax

Department

Egyptian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1958