Sale!
$0.01 CAD

Dating back to the Third Intermediate to Late Dynastic Period (25th-26th Dynasty, 744-525 BCE) this is an authentic Ancient Egyptian canopic box!

Crafted from imported cedar (imported to Egypt due to the lack of local wood) this beautifully painted and gold-gilded artifact would have been placed inside of a tomb to hold some of the mummy's organs.

Adorning the top of the box is an effigy of Ra-Horakhty, an amalgamation of the gods Horus and Ra and considered the God of the Rising Sun. To highlight the significance of this diety and their role, the sun disk has been gilded in gold.

These boxes could have held the four canopic jars, though later in history the organs were often just wrapped and placed inside of the box directly.

Canopic jars came in sets of four and despite originally being quite plain, by the Ninteenth dynasty each of the four lids would depict one of Horus' four sons as the guardians of the organs. This box would have originally depicted all four of these sons, though some paint loss has occurred over the past couple thousand years.

Canopic containers were used to ensure the safekeeping of the stomach, intestines, lungs and liver as it was believed they'd be needed in the afterlife.

The heart, believed to be the seat of the soul, was left inside of the body (often under the protection of a scarab) to ensure it would remain intact for the Weighing Ceremony - judgement in the afterlife.

This incredible antiquity measures ~17.25" tall x 10" long x 8" wide and the bird, sun disk and top of the box itself can be gently removed.

We can ship this specimen worldwide!