Burial Artifacts on Display at The Metropolitan Museum

Funerary objects are objects associated with or used in funerary practices of any culture. They can be anything from grave markers to objects placed with human remains at the time of death or later as part of a death rite or ceremony. The Metropolitan Museum has a wide array of funerary objects from different cultures and periods. These objects provide insight into how different cultures have dealt with death and the afterlifey.

Canopic Chest of Khonsu

    The canopic box is for Khonsu and has a shrine-shaped lid and the typical Egyptian cavetto cornice around the upper edge.
    The interior is divided into four compartments for the storage of the four internal organs.
    The lid is decorated with two images of Anubis as a jackal, and the sides of the box are decorated with the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, Selket and Neith, and the Four Sons of Horus, protectors of the internal organs.
   The canopic box, made for Khonsu (see 1.1a, b and 86.1.2a, b), has a shrine-shaped lid and the typical Egyptian cavetto cornice around the upper edge.
   It is built on sledge runners, and there are two knobs for tying the lid shut
   The interior is divided into four compartments for the storage of the four internal organs
   The lid is decorated with two images of Anubis as a jackal, and the sides of the box are decorated with the goddesses Isis and Nephthys, Selket and Neith, and the Four Sons of Horus, protectors of the internal organs
   The inscriptions assure Khonsu of their protection
   Other objects in the collection that were discovered in the same tomb can be viewed here

Overseer Shabti of Nauny

    Almost 400 small funerary figures known as shabtis were found with Nauny's burial.
    These can be seen as avatars, meant to carry out agricultural labor on Nauny's behalf in the afterlife.
    Of the 393 shabtis discovered, 355 were workers and 37 were overseers like this one.

Overseer Shabti of Nauny

    Almost 400 small funerary figures known as shabtis were found with Nauny's burial.
    These can be seen as avatars, meant to carry out agricultural labor on Nauny's behalf in the afterlife.
    Of the 393 shabtis discovered, 355 were workers and 37 were overseers like this one.

Overseer Shabti of Nauny

    Almost 400 small funerary figures known as shabtis were found with Nauny's burial.
    These can be seen as avatars, meant to carry out agricultural labor on Nauny's behalf in the afterlife.
    Of the 393 shabtis discovered, 355 were workers and 37 were overseers like this one.
    Recognizable by their long kilts and the flails that they hold, the overseer figures were meant to supervise the worker shabtis (see for example 30.3.26.10) that worked on Nauny's behalf in the afterlife.
    On the back pillar, Nauny is named as as a king's daughter and called an "illuminated Osiris," transformed through the process of mummification and identified with the principal god of the dead, then reanimated by the light of the sun god as he traveled through the Netherworld each night.
    Nauny's shabtis were divided between seven boxes.
    Five of these, with their shabtis, were given to The Met, while two were sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Shabti of Sennedjem

    This shabti is inscribed for the "Servant in the Place of Truth" Sennedjem.
    Shabtis were intended to substitute for the deceased owner if his spirit was asked to perform manual labor in the afterlife.
    To this end, these small funerary figurines often clutch a hoe and a pick and have one or two baskets hanging over their shoulders on the back.
   They are also usually inscribed with a version of Chapter 6 of the Book of the Dead
   This spell exhorts the shabti to work in place of the deceased

Overseer Shabti of Nauny

    Almost 400 small funerary figures known as shabtis were found with Nauny's burial.
    The shabtis were divided between seven boxes.
   Five of these, with their shabtis, were given to The Met, while two were sent to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Shabti of Paser, the Vizier of Seti I and Ramesses II

    This is a shabti of Paser, who is shown in a mummiform and carrying two hoes and a basket.
    The shabti is inscribed with six horizontal lines of text, which are intended to free the owner from obligatory tasks in the afterlife.
    The shabti was found in the tomb of Paser.

Overseer Shabti of Nauny