Dummy Canopic Box (?)

The solid rectangular piece of wood is painted with the sons of Horus, protectors of the mummified inner organs: the human-headed Imsety, the baboon-headed Hapy, the hawk-headed Qebehsenuef, and the jackal-headed Duamutef. It shows a drilled hole on the top for attachment of a lid or a figure. This iconography is reminiscent of the decoration of canopic chests, an important part of the funerary equipment of the ancient Egyptians since the Old Kingdom. The fact that the object is made of solid wood indicates that it could not actually contain mummified inner organs. Originally, it was intended as an object with a different function, but was transformed into a dummy canopic chest at a later phase of its production. This is implied by a large, roughly carved unfinished cavity cut near the end of one of the sides. Similar cavities were carved into the plinths of some Ptah-Sokar-Osiris statues to hold some funerary material.