id:			94190
accession number:	1914.714.b
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1914.714.b
updated:		2023-03-03 07:01:01.150000

Coffin of Nesykhonsu (lid), c. 976–889 BC. Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, late Dynasty 21 (1069-945 BC) - early Dynasty 22 (945-715 BC). Gessoed and painted sycamore fig; overall: 211 cm (83 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1914.714.b

title:				Coffin of Nesykhonsu (lid)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 976–889 BC
creation date earliest:		-976
creation date latest:		-889
current location:		107 Egyptian
creditline:			Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
copyright:			

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culture:	Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, late Dynasty 21 (1069-945 BC) - early Dynasty 22 (945-715 BC)
technique:	gessoed and painted sycamore fig
department:	Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art
collection:	Egypt - Third Intermediate
type:		Funerary Equipment
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 211 cm (83 1/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Inaugural Exhibition
	opening date:   1916-06-06T05:00:00
	<i>Inaugural Exhibition</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* CMA 1916, no. 87, p. 213

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PROVENANCE

	Thebes, probably Deir el-Bahri. Purchased from Joseph Hassan Ahmed, Luxor, by Lucy Olcott Perkins through Henry W. Kent
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:
Two of Nesykhonsu's titles, "Lady of the House" and "Singer of the Choir of Mut the Great," are written on the outside of the coffin.

digital description:


wall description:
A complete set of coffins during the late New Kingdom and Third Intermediate Period consisted of an outer and inner coffin and a mummy board (essentially a lid without a case, placed directly over the wrapped mummy). Judging by its size, this must have been Nesykhonsu's outer coffin. The type is essentially the same as the coffin of Bakenmut, which was also an outer coffin. The two coffins are said to have been found together and to have belonged to a man and wife. This is quite possible, although the inscriptions do not bear it out. Bakenmut is not mentioned on Nesykhonsu's coffin, nor is she mentioned on his. There was by this time a tremendous repertoire of scenes appropriate for coffin decoration. Whereas Bakenmut's coffin features images of deified dead pharaohs, Nesykhonsu's is decorated in a more personal way with scenes from her own funeral. The main scene in the interior (near the top) shows a priest clad in a panther skin with the mummy of Nesykhonsu behind. The god appears in mummy form and wears a sun disk on his head. The scarab beetle inside the sun disk identifies him as Khepri, the morning sun, and the hieroglyphs to the right identify him as Atum, the evening sun. Taken together, image and text represent the sun god in both his rising and setting, youthful and aged aspects.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Kozloff, Arielle P. <em>Egypt’s Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his world.</em> Cleveland : Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1992.
	page number: 	Reproduced: fig. XI.6, p. 334
	url:		

	Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač.<em> Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 325-335, Color p. 60; Mentioned: p. 325-337
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1914.714.b/1914.714.b_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1914.714.b/1914.714.b_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1914.714.b/1914.714.b_full.tif