Coffin of Horankh

In the course of some 2000 years of Egyptian history, fashions in coffins and portraits of the dead person changed. But the ideal of bodily survival remained constant. This was based on the belief that people lived physically in the afterworld just as they did in this one. The anthropoid coffin fitted closely around the mummy of the deceased, echoing the mummy's shape and serving as a substitute body for the spirit of the dead person

This coffin once held the mummy of a man named Hornakh, probably a high court official or priest during the 25th Dynasty. The coffin served as a substitute for Horankh, and also identified him with Osiris, Lord of the Underworld. Brilliant eyes of calcite and obsidian shine. Look at the color of the mummy's face. Green, symbol of the growth of plants and new life in spring, is associated with the god Osiris. And inscriptions on the base of the coffin include a prayer to Osiris and the name of the dead man.

The painting on this coffin emphasizes the hope of new life. It associates the owner with the god of the Underworld, where Horankh hoped to live for eternity.This anthropoid coffin consists of a separate bottom and lid, plastered and painted on the outside and left undecorated on the inside. Finer coffins would have been constructed of imported pine or cedar form the Near East. But this coffin was constructed of irregualr pieces of native Egyptian wood, possibly tamarisk. The gaps between the planks were filled with mud.

Though the construction of this coffin is humble, it is richly painted with gods, goddesses, and other images that would help guard the dead person in the afterlife.

25th Dynasty
c. 700 BC

"Coffin of Horankh"
wood, gesso, paint, obsidian, calcite, and bronze.
From the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, 1994.184