Walters Art Museum (Egyptian) · vessel

Canopic Jar

Walters Art Museum (Egyptian), acc. 41.90. Public domain (CC0). Copy archived by egyptianinscriptions.org with attribution; original at the holding institution.

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Accession: 41.90
Dynasty: late 25th-26th Dynasty
Date: ca. 670-640 BCE (Late Period)
Date range: 670 BCE – 640 BCE
Materials: ['limestone, paint']
Repository: Walters Art Museum
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Cite & export

Walters Art Museum (Egyptian), Canopic Jar (41.90). Egyptian Inscriptions Database. https://egyptianinscriptions.org/object/220193

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Description

<p>During mummification, the internal organs of the deceased were removed from the body and placed in a set of four special containers, the so-called canopic jars. A complete set is exhibited in the Egyptian galleries. The lids of the jars depicted the heads of a hawk, a human, a jackal, and a baboon, each associated with one of the four "Sons of Horus," the deities responsible for protecting the organs. Responsible for the liver was the human-headed Imsety, while the hawk-headed Qebehsenuef protected the intestines.</p><p>For the latest information about this object, <cite><a href='https://purl.thewalters.org/art/41.90' rel='external'>Canopic Jar</a></cite>, visit the Online Collection of the Walters Art Museum.</p>

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.

An Egyptian canopic-jar type vessel shown as a human-headed (or baboon-headed) figure with painted facial features on the lid and painted hieroglyphs on the body.

The object is a two-part canopic-jar form: a rounded lid with a stylized animal/human face (large outlined eyes and arched brows) painted in dark pigment, and a taller, tapering jar body with a broad band of painted hieroglyphs/rectangular sign blocks around the upper portion. Additional vertical sign groupings appear below, separated by lines, and there are darker areas and scuffs where paint is abraded. The surfaces appear light-colored (stone) with black/grey paint for outlines and interior details. No clearly legible full cartouche or royal name is visible at this resolution. No Greek, Coptic, or Arabic text is apparent.

funerary unclear (likely Late Period to Roman period canopic-jar style, but not certain from image alone) good

Materials limestone (light stone body and lid)paint (dark pigment for facial features and hieroglyphs)

Signs individual hieroglyphic sign blocks (unidentifiable at this resolution) ×15

Visible text "Hieroglyphic sign blocks and vertical groupings are present but not clearly readable enough to transcribe."

Inscriptions (1)

Inscription #1 AI reading of the photograph

Visible text (machine reading)

Hieroglyphic sign blocks and vertical groupings are present but not clearly readable enough to transcribe.

Connections

Deities Horus Imsety Qebehsenuef

Cross-references (2)

Walters-AccNum 41.90 tier-2
Walters-id 4034 tier-2

About this record's data

From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Walters Art Museum (Egyptian).
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.