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Source Description

A complete set of coffins during the late New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period consisted of an outer and inner coffin and a mummy board (essentially a lid without a case, placed directly over the wrapped mummy). Judging by its size, this must have been Nesykhonsu's outer coffin. The type is essentially the same as the coffin of Bakenmut, which was also an outer coffin. The two coffins are said to have been found together and to have belonged to a man and wife. This is quite possible, although the inscriptions do not bear it out. Bakenmut is not mentioned on Nesykhonsu's coffin, nor is she mentioned on his. There was by this time a tremendous repertoire of scenes appropriate for coffin decoration. Whereas Bakenmut's coffin features images of deified dead pharaohs, Nesykhonsu's is decorated in a more personal way with scenes from her own funeral. The main scene in the interior (near the top) shows a priest clad in a panther skin with the mummy of Nesykhonsu behind. The god appears in mummy form and wears a sun disk on his head. The scarab beetle inside the sun disk identifies him as Khepri, the morning sun, and the hieroglyphs to the right identify him as Atum, the evening sun. Taken together, image and text represent the sun god in both his rising and setting, youthful and aged aspects.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
94190
label
Coffin of Nesykhonsu (lid)
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
94190
contentType
object
title
Coffin of Nesykhonsu (lid)
description
A complete set of coffins during the late New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period consisted of an outer and inner coffin and a mummy board (essentially a lid without a case, placed directly over the wrapped mummy). Judging by its size, this must have been Nesykhonsu's outer coffin. The type is essentially the same as the coffin of Bakenmut, which was also an outer coffin. The two coffins are said to have been found together and to have belonged to a man and wife. This is quite possible, although the inscriptions do not bear it out. Bakenmut is not mentioned on Nesykhonsu's coffin, nor is she mentioned on his. There was by this time a tremendous repertoire of scenes appropriate for coffin decoration. Whereas Bakenmut's coffin features images of deified dead pharaohs, Nesykhonsu's is decorated in a more personal way with scenes from her own funeral. The main scene in the interior (near the top) shows a priest clad in a panther skin with the mummy of Nesykhonsu behind. The god appears in mummy form and wears a sun disk on his head. The scarab beetle inside the sun disk identifies him as Khepri, the morning sun, and the hieroglyphs to the right identify him as Atum, the evening sun. Taken together, image and text represent the sun god in both his rising and setting, youthful and aged aspects.
date
c. 976–889 BCE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60762105
genreSpecific
Funerary Equipment
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 211 cm (83 1/16 in.)
cul
Egypt, Third Intermediate (1069–715 BCE), Dynasties 21–22
accession
1914.714.b
Source extras
tec
gessoed and painted sycamore fig
tombstone
Coffin of Nesykhonsu (lid), c. 976–889 BCE. Egypt, Third Intermediate (1069–715 BCE), Dynasties 21–22. Gessoed and painted sycamore fig; overall: 211 cm (83 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust, 1914.714.b
collection
Egypt - Third Intermediate
didYouKnow
Two of Nesykhonsu's titles, "Lady of the House" and "Singer of the Choir of Mut the Great," are written on the outside of the coffin.
citations
citation
Kozloff, Arielle P. <em>Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his world.</em> Cleveland : Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1992.
page_number
Reproduced: fig. XI.6, p. 334
citation
Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač.<em> Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999
page_number
Reproduced: p. 325-335, Color p. 60; Mentioned: p. 325-337
creditline
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
updatedAt
2026-05-29 05:00:49.670000
sourceId
94190
dept
Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
coll
Egypt - Third Intermediate
med
gessoed and painted sycamore fig
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
2bb4fd6a04c8d03f