Coffin of Horankh, c.700 B.C. (wood, gesso, paint, obsidian, calcite, and bronze)

This Egyptian coffin, carved from a hollow tree trunk and inlaid with obsidian eyes, was created to hold the body of a twenty-fifth dynasty noble or priest. The inscription at the base of the coffin reveals the name of the person entombed as Horankh and invokes Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife. Green, a color identified with Osiris, covers the face at the top of the coffin, further connecting Osiris and the deceased. During the twenty-fifth dynasty, Egypt was controlled by Nubia whose leaders encouraged Egyptian craftsmen and artists to seek inspiration from the styles of Egypt’s distant past. The smooth shape of the Coffin of Horankh with its lack of ornate decoration resembles a coffin from Egypt’s Middle Period (2030-1640 BC).