Coffin of Nespahertahat
Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21 (about 1069 –945 BCE)
Medium
Wood and pigment
Dimensions
58.4 × 182.8 × 58.4 cm (23 × 72 × 23 in.)
Classification
coffin
Department
Arts of Africa
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
248557
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The lid of this anthropoid (human-shaped) coffin represents its owner, Nesi-pa-her-hat, with his arms crossed over his chest. When Nesi-pa-her-hat lived in Thebes (now Luxor) approximately 3000 years ago, elite Egyptians no longer constructed elaborately decorated tomb chapels. Instead, scenes designed to guide and sustain the deceased in the afterlife were painted on nesting sets of wooden coffins. This is the inner coffin of what was likely a set of two that would have added an extra layer of ...
About the Artist
Ancient Egyptian
Ancient Egyptian artists, a collective of highly skilled artisans spanning over three millennia from the Predynastic period (c. 6000–3150 BC) to the Roman era (30 BC–4th century AD), produced some of humanity's most enduring masterpieces. These anonymous craftsmen, often organized in state-sponsored workshops, lived in dedicated communities like Deir el-Medina near Luxor during the New Kingdom (c....