Anthropoid sarcophagi are perhaps the single most popular works of art evocative of pharaonic Egypt. First appearing during Dynasty XII, these originally served as surrogates for the mummy within, thereby permitting the spirit of the deceased to exist eternally even if the actual mummy itself was destroyed. As time passed, ancient Egyptian theologians furthered this original idea of the anthropoid coffin to include an identification of the deceased with Osiris, god of the dead.
Statistically, perhaps, more anthropoid sarcophagi have survived from the later periods of ancient Egypt's long history, particularly from Dynasty XXX to the Ptolemaic Period, to which period the present example is assigned. Examples from this period exhibit several distinctive characteristics not shared by earlier types. The head, in particular, appears to be disproportionately too large for its body; the wig covers the upper torso; and the broad collar often begins at the level of that large wig.
