Egyptian Wood Dummy Canopic Jar

Alice (1897-1991) and Yngve (1918-1974) Lyttkens collection, acquired in Egypt in the 1950s, probably 1957-1958. Thence by descent. Anonymous sale; Stockholms Auktionsverk, December 2015. Private collection, Sweden, acquired at the above sale. Antiquities Bonham's London, July 3, 2019. Private Collection, Los Angeles California.

During the Third Intermediate Period canopic jars were not used to store the mummified organs of the deceased, as a practice developed of returning the embalmed viscera to the body. However, the use of canopic jars was such an essential element of tomb ritual that models of jars were used in their absence. These 'dummy' canopic jars were often carved out of a single block of stone or wood, and were not hollowed out. Imsety was the deity associated with protecting the liver.

For similar examples of dummy jars in limestone, see C. Roehrig, Mummies and Magic, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1988, p. 164-165, no. 117.