Egyptian: Late Period (656-332 B.C.)
Wood, gesso,paint,obsidian, calcite, and bronze
Green Estate Acquisitions Fund, 1994.184
The coffin is in the form of a human body wrapped in a lined shroud. The head has a green face because the dead person was identified with Osiris, Lord of the Underworld, whose face is green to symbolize spring growth, life, and immortality. The brilliant eyes of obsidian and calcite add to this lifelike impression. A partially damaged inscription on the base of the statue has and invocation to Osiris, along with the name of the dead man, which is Horankh.
During the 25th Dynasty . 712-657 B.C. when Nubian kings ruled Egypt, Egyptian artists looked back to the classic models of their earlier art. A coffin like this one was modeled on the severs purity of Middle Kingdom coffins. Egyptian coffins not only held the mummy of the dead person but magically ensured eternal life in the after world.
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