Side Panel from the Coffin of Amenemope

c. 976–889 BCE

Egypt, Thebes, Third Intermediate (1069–715 BCE), Dynasties 21–22

Overall: 60.4 x 41 x 6 cm (23 3/4 x 16 1/8 x 2 3/8 in.)

The Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1921.1029

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Description

This panel illustrates one of the same scenes shown on the inside of Nesykhonsu’s coffin, allowing us to compare different artist’s styles. On the right stand the mummies of the priest Amenemope and his wife, Taditkhonsu. Their daughter, called "the lady of the house, Mutemperes," crouches before them with her hands wrapped around Amenenope’s legs in a traditional gesture of mourning. On the left, a priest, dressed in his finest linen garments and panther skin, holds in his upraised hands an incense burner and a curious curved implement typically associated with the "opening of the mouth" ritual, in which the mummy’s mouth was magically opened so that the deceased person could take in food and thus be brought back to life.