Canopic Jar with Jackal Head

Description During mummification, the internal organs of the deceased were removed from the body and placed in a set of four special containers, the so-called canopic jars. The lids of the jars depicted the heads of a hawk, a human, a jackal, and a baboon, each associated with one of the four "Sons of Horus," the deities responsible for protecting the organs. Jackal-headed Duamutef was responsible for the stomach.

Exhibitions

• Beyond the Pharaohs: Egypt and the Copts in the Second to Seventh Centuries A.D.. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1989.

Provenance Dikran Kelekian, New York and Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [said to be from Luxor]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1925, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1925