Skip to Main Content

Canopic Jar with Man's Head

664–525 BCE
travertine
Diameter: 16.6 cm (6 9/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 9 cm (3 9/16 in.); Overall: 38.8 cm (15 1/4 in.)
The Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1921.1019
Location: 107 Egyptian
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Download, Print and Share

Description

In the process of mummification, the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines were removed, separately embalmed, and stored in specialized jars known as canopic jars (after a sailor in Greek mythology, who died at the town of Canopus in the Nile Delta and was worshipped there in the form of a human-headed jar). Each organ was identified with one of four funerary deities collectively known as the Sons of Horus: the liver with Imsety (man's head), the lungs with Hapy (baboon's head), the stomach with Duamutef (jackal's head), and the intestines with Qebehsenuef (falcon's head). It was their duty to protect the deceased and restore to him his body parts in the hereafter.
Canopic Jar with Man's Head

Canopic Jar with Man's Head

664–525 BCE

Egypt, Late period (715–332 BCE), Dynasty 26

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

    Contact us

    The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

    To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

    All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.