Canopic Box

The canopic chest was an important part of the funerary equipment of the ancient Egyptians since the Old Kingdom. It was made to hold the four canopic jars that contained the wrapped internal organs removed from the corpse during the mummification process.
The lid of this Ptolemaic wooden chest is now missing. Its contents are also lost. Considering its dimensions and the burial customs of the period, it is unlikely that this chest contained canopic jars; the wrapped organs were rather placed in it directly.
A pair of dowel holes along the middle line of the base of the chest indicates that it was originally intended to be a lid. The shape and decoration of the box recall a shrine. The top is painted with a kheker frieze, a motif used to decorate the top ends of tomb and shrine walls. Below the frieze comes a blue hieroglyphic sign of the sky on all sides. The panels below depict the protectors of the inner organs, i.e. the four sons of Horus, one on each side. The human-headed Imsety is shown on the frontal panel, the hawk-headed Qebehsenuef on the rear, the baboon-headed Hapy on the right lateral side, and the jackal-headed Duamutef on the left. A stripe of red and blue vertical strokes, a stylised representation of the palace façade, runs along the bottom.