Canopic chest of Rw-Bastet, Dyn. 22
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Links to other views:⇒ Larger View⇒ Top detail: Sokar front view ⇒ Top detail: Sokar from side ⇒ Top detail: Sokar from side close ⇒ Full view 3/4 left ⇒ Full view front ⇒ Full view: left side ⇒ Full view: back ⇒ Full view: right side ⇒ Front detail: Horus lions ⇒ Front detail: doors ⇒ Right detail: tiet and djed ⇒ Right detail: Duamutef, Imsety ⇒ Left detail: Hapy, Kebsenuef ⇒ Back detail: Horus falcon ⇒ Back detail: doors if scripting is off, click the ⇒ instead. Links to others from Dynasty 22Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 22Bronze statuette of Bastet, Dyn. 22 Faience figurine of a king striding, Dyn. 22 Gilded bronze of Bastet, Dyn. 22 Osiris, King of the Afterlife, Dyn. 22 Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 22 Pin finial, Goddess Bastet, Dyn. 22 Queen Karama as Goddess Neith, Dyn. 22 Sarcophagus for cat as Bastet, Dyn. 22 Shawabti of King Pami, Dyn. 22 Shawabti of Sheshonq II (?) Dyn. 22, 890 BC Shawabti of Sheshonq II (?) Dyn. 22, 890 BC Shawabti of Sheshonq II (?) Dyn. 22, 890 BC Shawabti of Sheshonq II (?) Dyn. 22, 890 BC Statue pedestal of Osorkon II, Dyn. 22 |
This tall canopic chest probably once contained the preserved internal organs of the defunct, which were removed from the body for separate treatment during the process of mummification. (Alternately, the organs were returned to the mummy after treatment, and the canopic chest was filled with empty packages symbolizing the organs.) The inscriptions tell us that it was made for a member of the royal family named Rw-Bastet, son of Hory-Ta-Mhw, ruler of the Delta in Lower Egypt, and grandson of Neb-Per-Ater. Bubastis, capital of the Libyan Dynasty 22 (945-715 BC). This type of chest was made to resemble a typical Egyptian pylon-shaped shrine, with tapered walls ending in cavetto cornices. Constructed out of wood, it was then gessoed and painted. This particular one was decorated with unusual elegance and attention to detail. Top The lid is ornamented with a figurine representing the falcon god Sokar, the ‘Lord of the Mysterious Region’, wearing his traditional double feather headdress. “His funerary aspect is of extreme importance. . . a resurrected god of the dead, of unrestricted movement and power as his epithet ‘great god with his two wings opened’ indicates” (Hart 1986:202). The peculiar disparity in craftsmanship between the roughly shaped and painted headdress and the exquisitely executed hawk is typical of this type of object. Front The front of the shrine presents the entrance to the sanctuary protected by multiple symbols. At the top is a solar disk with a double uraeus (cobra). Below are two winged solar disks with double uraeus, which represent a form of the god Horus known as “Horus of Behdet,” originally from Lower Egypt. “In his role as Horus of Behdet, a town in the Delta, he was also portrayed as a winged sun-disk” (Shaw and Nicholson 1995:134). Beneath is a blind doorway (a ‘false door’) with two Udjat eyes. Within the doorway, on either side of a clump of papyrus (the heraldic plant of Lower Egypt), are two falcon-headed lions—an alternate representation of Horus of Behdet. Flanking this blind doorway are two short vertical registers with the following text: Left side of facade—“Words by Osiris, the master of the west, may he give protection to Osiris the God” (dd mdw in wsir hnty imntt wsir sa di wsir). Right side of facade—“Words by Osiris-Sokar, the protection of Osiris Rw-Bastet” (dd mdw in wsir-sokr sa n wsir Rw-Bastt). At the bottom of this facade stands the double-leaf door to the shrine, solidly bolted shut. The door is painted to imitate wood, including a trompe l’oeil effect to emulate the grain of the wood. This detailing may seem gratuitous, since the substrate is already wood with its own natural grain, but the artist may have concluded that the scale of the natural grain did not match that of the door he wanted to depict. The door is flanked by white, black, red and green checkered motifs and two more short registers of hieroglyphs reading: Left side of facade—“Words by Osiris Rw-Bastet” (dd mdw in wsir Rw-Bastt) Right side of facade—“Words by Osiris Rw-Bastet” (dd mdw in wsir Rw-Bastt). The tall red registers stretching the whole height of the facade contain the dedication, which reads: Left side of facade—“Words by Osiris, the Lord of Djedw (Busiris), the great-god, who turned to the beautiful coffin ‘may he give’ table of offering to Osiris Rw-Bastet, the justified, son of Hory-ta-mhw the ruler of the Delta, the justified, son of Neb-Per-Ater, the justified” (dd mdw in wsir nb ddw ntr ca wdb hat krsw nefer prt hrw n wsir Rw-Bastt ma hrw sa Hry-ta-mhw ma hrw ms n Neb-pr-atr ma hrw). Right side of facade—“Words by a boon, which the son of the king offers to Osiris, the Lord of Djedw (Busiris), the great god, who turned to his beautiful coffin ‘may he give’ table of offering to Osiris Rw-Bastet, the justified, Son of Hory-ta-mhw the ruler of the Delta, the justified, Son of Neb-Per-Ater, the justified, eternally, forever” (dd mdw in hetep di sa nsw n wsir nb ddw ntr ca wdb hat nfr krsw prt hrw n wsir Rw-Bastt ma hrw sa Hry-ta-mhw ma hrw ms s Neb-pr-atr ma hrw nhh dt). Back The back of the shrine is dominated by a large representation of the falcon god Horus, clutching in its talons the sign shen (a loop of rope without beginning or end, symbol of eternity). He is capped with a solar disk, and flanked by two feathers of Maat, symbols of justice. The writing in the upper left of that scene reads: “Good god dappled of plumage” (ntr nfr sab swt), a traditional epithet of the solar Horus. The writing on the upper left is not legible. At the base of the back facade are three narrow doors, as securely bolted as the front door, and separated by a checkerboard pattern as in front. A much larger variation on that pattern serves as a lintel separating the doors from the Horus figure above. Left On the left side stand large representations of two of the four Sons of Horus: the baboon-headed Hapy (protector of the lungs), and the falcon-headed Kebsenuef (protector of the intestines). They hold the sign sa, meaning “protection”. The text left of Hapy reads: “Words by Hapy, may he give protection to the Osiris Rw-Bastet, true of voice” (dd-mdw-in hapy ir-sa-n-wsir Rw-Bastt ma-hrw). The text left of Kebsenuef reads: “Words by Kebsenuef, may he give protection to the Osiris Rw-Bastet, true of voice” (dd-mdw-in kbh-snw-f ir-sa-n-wsir Rw-Bastt ma-hrw). Below them is a djed pillar, representing God Osiris, between two tyet signs (‘the knot of Isis’), representing Goddess Isis. At the base of the facade is a rendition of the paneled walls of ancient Egyptian palaces as shown on serekhs. Right On the right side stand large representations of the other two Sons of Horus: the jackal-headed Duamutef (protector of the stomach), and the human-headed Imsety (protector of the liver). They also hold the sign sa, meaning “protection”. The text left of Duamutef reads: “Words by Duamutef, may he give protection to the Osiris Rw-Bastet, true of voice” (dd-mdw-in Dwa-mwt-f ir-sa-n-wsir Rw-Bastt ma-hrw). The text left of Imsety reads: “Words by Imsety, may he give protection to the Osiris Rw-Bastet, true of voice” (Imst ir-sa-n-wsir Rw-Bastt ma-hrw). Below them is a djed pillar, representing God Osiris, between two tyet signs (‘the knot of Isis’), representing Goddess Isis. At the base of the facade is a rendition of the paneled walls of ancient Egyptian palaces as shown on serekhs. Datation Maarten Raven (D’auria et al. 1992:197) documents a controversy on the dating of chests of this type, which he believes to originate from Dynasty 30 and later. Bibliography (for this item)D’Auria, Sue, Peter Lacovara, and Catharine H. Roehrig1992 Mummies & Magic. The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt (Reprinted with changes by the Dallas Museum of Arts, from the 1988 Boston edition). Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. (197) Hart, George 1986 A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, United Kingdom. (202) Shaw, Ian, and Paul Nicholson 1995 The Dictionary of Ancient Egypt. British Museum Press, London, United Kingdom. (134) |
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