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

Outer Coffin of Kamwese

Source of record: Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

Object Label: This coffin type developed from the rectangular type used for Princess Mayet, shown nearby. Kamwese’s is shaped like a shrine, but with runners along the bottom (perhaps used to transport the coffin from the embalming hall to the tomb). A human-shaped coffin was originally placed inside it. The images on each long side include a wadjet-eye, symbolizing completeness, positioned above a shrine and guardian deities and spells. The mourning goddesses Isis and Nephthys, on each short end, help associate the deceased with Osiris. Caption: Outer Coffin of Kamwese, ca. 1390–1352 B.C.E.. Wood, pigment, 41 3/4 x 35 7/16 x 95 1/4 in. (106 x 90 x 242 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.15E. (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.

A polychrome wooden coffin outer case painted with registers of standing figures and dense black hieroglyphic decoration.

The image shows a long rectangular outer coffin with rounded ends resting on a base. The outer surface is painted dark (black/brown) with gilded or light-colored bands and a border. Multiple registers include silhouettes of standing, slim human figures with long garments, arranged along the sides. Dense hieroglyphic signs fill spaces between figures and along the panels, with additional larger symbolic elements including a boat-like or winged form in one central panel. The lid/top is painted with alternating bands and has a worn/abraded surface; some areas show chipped paint and exposed wood. No clear cartouche or royal name is legible at the resolution provided; the name “Kamwese” cannot be confirmed from visible text. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is visible. Deities are not clearly identifiable by specific iconographic attributes in this image, though funerary motifs are present.

funerary New Kingdom (as given by catalogue; exact subperiod unclear from image alone) good
Materials woodpigment/paint (polychrome)
Signs Hieroglyphic text (unreadable at this resolution) ×200

Connections

Found at Thebes
Materials Wood

Cross-references (2)

  • BKM-Accession 37.15E tier-2
  • BKM-Object 3933 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.