Tutankhamun’s Canopic Chest and jars holding vital organs, from King Tutankhamen's tomb, Egyptian Museum of Antiquities, Cairo, Egypt

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Tutankhamun's Canopic Chest was carved from a single piece block of delicately veined and semi-translucent calcite, picked out in contrasting dark blue pigment. The chest contains four alabaster Canopic Jars used for the burial of the viscera removed during mummification. Exquisitely modeled in calcite, each lid represents Tutankhamun wearing the nemes with separately modeled vulture head and uraeus. The facial features are carefully picked out in black, with dabs of red for the lips. All four are hollowed out underneath and carry a symbol painted in black on the shoulder to identify the compartment for which they were intended. The specific organs stored in the jars were the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines.

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Size: 3760px × 2507px
Location: Egyptian Museum, Meret Basha, Ismailia, Qasr an Nile, Cairo Governorate, Egypt
Photo credit: © John Keates / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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