Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art · funerary_equipment

Canopic Chest

Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art, acc. 37.1390E. Public domain (CC0). Copy archived by egyptianinscriptions.org with attribution; original at the holding institution.

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Accession: 37.1390E
Find spot: Saqqara, Egypt approx. site location
Period: Late Period to Ptolemaic Period
Dynasty: Dynasty 26, or later
Date: ca. 380–30 B.C.E.
Date range: 380 BCE – 30 BCE
Materials: ['Wood', 'stucco', 'pigment']
Height: 51.0 cm
Width: 22.0 cm
Repository: Brooklyn Museum
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Cite & export

Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Canopic Chest (37.1390E). Egyptian Inscriptions Database. https://egyptianinscriptions.org/object/18243

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Description

Object Label: A canopic chest could be used to hold the jars for mummified internal organs. On the lid is the falcon-shaped god Sokar, a form of the sun-god sometimes combined with Osiris, god of the dead. The sides of the chest represent the starry sky, at the top; then a winged sun-disk crossing the sky; and the protective Sons of Horus positioned in a temple-like façade. Below the temple are hieroglyphs that repeat the phrases “all life and dominion” and “life and endurance,” both associated with Isis and Osiris. Caption: Canopic Chest, ca. 380–30 B.C.E.. Wood, stucco, pigment, 20 1/16 x 8 11/16 x 9 7/16 in. (51 x 22 x 24 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.1390E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

Painted and inscribed canopic chest with a falcon-headed figure seated on top.

The image shows a rectangular stone/wooden chest with vertical sides covered in dense painted decoration of architectural columns, framed panels, and repeating patterned registers in blue, green, red, and gold/cream pigments. On the lid (or a raised top element) sits a small bird/falcon-like figure with a rounded head facing left, rendered in yellow-brown with darker wing/feather markings; its body rests on a low, decorated platform. The front and sides include areas of incised/painted linework that resemble vertical inscription columns and decorative bands. The object is supported by a slightly projecting base with molded edges. No clearly legible hieroglyphic phrases, cartouches, or letters in Greek/Coptic/Arabic are visible at this resolution.

funerary Late Period to Ptolemaic Period (as catalogued) good

Materials wood (as structural substrate; inferred)stucco/painted surfacepigment (polychrome painting)

Signs Hieroglyph-like vertical inscription columns (not legible) ×20

Connections

Found at Saqqara

Deities Horus Osiris Isis Sokar

Materials Wood Pigment

Cross-references (2)

BKM-Accession 37.1390E tier-2
BKM-Object 4148 tier-2

About this record's data

From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.