The practice of placing the internal organs of the dead into four vessels goes back at least to the Old Kingdom. Starting in the Middle Kingdom, the jars, called canopic jars by the Greeks, were provided with lids in the shape of human heads carrying the features of the deceased. In the New Kingdom, the lids took the forms of the Four sons of Horus: Amset (human), Duamutef (jackal), Hepi (baboon), and Qebehsenuf (falcon). These four deities respectively protected the liver, the lungs, the stomach and the intestines. These jars, also protected by four goddesses, were placed in a box next to the coffin. The jar of Mutpipu, chief of the harem of Amun, bears a text in three vertical columns which places the contents under the protection of the god Hepi and the goddess Nephthys.
HEWN; POLISHED; ENGRAVED; WRITTEN WITH A REED PEN/REED WITH SPLIT NIB; SCULPTURED
Height
39 cm
Diameter
18.8 cm
Translation
Words to be spoken by Nephthys: 'Put your arms around Hepi, you who is in this vase, you who are venerated by Hepi, the Osiris the chief of the harem of Amun, Mutpipu'.
Bibliography
L. Speleers, Recueil des inscriptions égyptiennes des Musées Royaux du Cinquantenaire à Bruxelles, Bruxelles 1923, 80 nº 298
K. Sethe, Zur Geschichte der Einbalsamierung bei den Ägyptern und einiger damit verbundenen Bräuche, Berlin 1934, 4*
H. De Meulenaere, Kanopenvazen met opschrift in de Egyptische Verzameling, MRAH 37 (1965) 4-5
B. van de Walle, L. Limme et H. De Meulenaere, La collection égyptienne. Les étapes marquantes de son développement, Bruxelles 1980, 63
W. Seipel, Ägypten. Götter, Gräber und die Kunst. 4000 Jahre Jenseitsglaube (Exposition), Linz 1989, I 190 n° 156
Henri-Joseph Redouté et l'expédition de Bonaparte en Égypte (Exposition Saint-Hubert 1993), Bruxelles 1993, 146 n° 37
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