British Museum Top 20 16 Henutmehyt Gilded Outer Coffin [25 of 30]
16 Henutmehyt Gilded Outer Coffin - Thebes Egypt, around 1250 BC, 46cm x 187cm. The coffin of Henutmehyt was human-shaped, which was believed to provide the spirit with a substitute body if the mummy should perish. The outer wooden coffin covered with gold leaf provides an idealized image of the dead woman, adorned with her full wig. A collar is spread over the breast, and below it hangs a pectoral (chest) ornament flanked by protective wedjat eyes. The sky-goddess Nut spreads her winged arms protectively across the body, and the hieroglyphic text immediately below invokes her. Vertical and horizontal bands divide the remainder of the lid into compartments which are occupied by figures of the Sons of Horus and the goddesses Isis and Nephthys.