Canopic
Chest
of Tutankhamun
The chest that held the king's canopic jars, kept inside a gilded shrine.
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The story
A gilded wooden shrine, guarded by four goddesses, stood in the tomb. Inside it, on its own small wooden sledge, was this lidded chest of calcite (alabaster). At each corner a goddess is carved in high relief, and the panels between them are inscribed with the words they speak.
The chest held four receptacles. In each of them lay a miniature gold coffin containing part of the king's embalmed viscera.
See it in GizaDetails
- Period
- New Kingdom, Dynasty 18
- Reign
- c. 1332 – 1323 BC
- From
- The tomb of Tutankhamun
- Material
- Alabaster (calcite)
- Displayed
- The Tutankhamun galleries
Made in the New Kingdom
The canopic chest comes from the tomb of Tutankhamun, who ruled in Dynasty 18 of the New Kingdom, about 1332 to 1323 BC.
- Predynastic
- Early Dynastic
- Old Kingdom
- Middle Kingdom
- New KingdomDynasty 18
- Late Period
- Ptolemaic
- Roman
Four more artifacts
Golden MaskSolid gold, inlaid with lapis lazuli and quartz.
Golden ThroneGilded wood, with the queen anointing the king.
Painted ChestBattle and hunt, painted in miniature.
Iron DaggerA gold handle and a blade of iron from the sky.
3D model: “Canopic Chest of Tutankhamun” by Mirhan Ayman, licensed CC BY 4.0, from Sketchfab. The model was made by its author and may differ in small details from the museum object.