Panel from the Coffin of a Woman, ca. 2008-1875 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 17 1/2 x 71 1/2 x 1 1/4 in., 22 lb. (44.5 x 181.6 x 3.2 cm, 9.98kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 1995.112. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1995.112_PS1.jpg)
Panel from the Coffin of a Woman, ca. 2008-1875 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 17 1/2 x 71 1/2 x 1 1/4 in., 22 lb. (44.5 x 181.6 x 3.2 cm, 9.98kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 1995.112. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1995.112_detail_PS2.jpg)
Panel from the Coffin of a Woman, ca. 2008-1875 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 17 1/2 x 71 1/2 x 1 1/4 in., 22 lb. (44.5 x 181.6 x 3.2 cm, 9.98kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 1995.112. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.1995.112_detail.jpg)
Panel from the Coffin of a Woman, ca. 2008-1875 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 17 1/2 x 71 1/2 x 1 1/4 in., 22 lb. (44.5 x 181.6 x 3.2 cm, 9.98kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 1995.112. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.1995.112_tlf.jpg)
Tell me more.
The images on this panel represent things the deceased would need in the afterlife. The objects are not gender specific, it is the inscription that identifies this as from a woman's coffin.
In the left section: Jars on a table are understood as containing "unguents," scented ointments. The jars themselves are decorated like imitation-stone which is, itself, based on real, early, carved stone vessels.
In the middle section: On a bed, bundles of embalming materials including linen sit, labeled. Underneath the bed, there are three objects: a canopic chest, a man-made pool, and a sieve or jar stopper.
In the right section: These two are the most every-day items on the panel. On the left is a mirror in a protective sleeve and to the right is a pair of sandals. The mirror has a typical, lotus-shaped handle.
Panel from the Coffin of a Woman
On View: Funerary Gallery 1, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor
This coffin is decorated with hieroglyphic texts invoking both national gods and the local gods of Asyut. The texts also include a prayer for bread, beer, and other offerings in the afterlife. A stand with five jars of oil, a bed with seven linen bags of materials for mummification, a mirror, and a pair of sandals are all depicted on the coffin's side, magically ensuring their presence in the tomb and with the deceased forever.
MEDIUM Wood, pigment
Possible Place Collected: Asyut, Egypt
DYNASTY late Dynasty 11 to early Dynasty 12
PERIOD Middle Kingdom
DIMENSIONS 17 1/2 x 71 1/2 x 1 1/4 in., 22 lb. (44.5 x 181.6 x 3.2 cm, 9.98kg) (show scale)
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Funerary Gallery 1, Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Gallery, 3rd Floor
Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt
To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum
ACCESSION NUMBER 1995.112
CAPTION Panel from the Coffin of a Woman, ca. 2008-1875 B.C.E. Wood, pigment, 17 1/2 x 71 1/2 x 1 1/4 in., 22 lb. (44.5 x 181.6 x 3.2 cm, 9.98kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 1995.112. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1995.112_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 1995.112_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2007
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Outer panel from left (east) side of a coffin originally made for a man but appropriated for an unnamed woman. In the invocation offering formula the datival n.k has been altered to n.t. Made of several irregularly shaped wooden pieces doweled together, a not uncommon practice at Asyut. Painted yellow in imitation either of gold or of a coniferous wood. (i.e., to mimic a more expensive wood). The frises d'objets on the exterior is another feature that suggests Asyut as the provenance. Condition: Good overall; unstable areas of polychromy on the left side about 15" from edge, also on right. Loss of paint from black outlines near both short ends.
6th-7th Dynasty
wood, pigment