Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • The Collection
  • Projects & Publications
  • Past Exhibitions

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Image

RISDM 38-206 silho.jpg
RISDM 38-206 130108 back v_01.jpg
RISDM 38-206 130108 back v_02.jpg
RISDM 38-206 130108 front ref.jpg
RISDM 38-206 130108 front.jpg
Z0014334.jpg
Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 / 6 Next

Egyptian

Coffin and mummy of Nesmin, 170-30 BCE

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Egyptian

Title

Coffin and mummy of Nesmin

Year

170-30 BCE

Medium

Coffin: wood, gesso, gilding, paint, and colored glass

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • gesso,
  • glass,
  • gilding,
  • gilded,
  • linen,
  • cartonnage,
  • wood

Dimensions

Length: 179.1 cm (70 1/2 inches)

Place

Found at Thebes

Type

  • Artifacts

Credit

Museum Appropriation Fund and Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

38.206

Projects & Publications

Publications

Teaching Notes / Think Like an Archaeologist

Read Online

Selected Works

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Ancient Egyptian Galleries

Nesmin lived in Egypt nearly 2,300 years ago, a priest of the fertility god Min and the moon and healing god Khonsu. He lived in Apu, now known as Akhmim, and was mummified and buried in a cemetery there after his death.

The underside of Nesmin’s coffin depicts a djed-pillar, a symbol of stability and longevity that frequently was made into the form of an amulet. The djed-pillar is accompanied by a double-feathered headdress set against a bright yellow ground, the original color of the whole exterior of the coffin before it faded. At the time of Nesmin’s death, the djed-pillar also symbolized the backbone of the deceased, especially of the god Osiris. This connection is made explicit in the Book of the Dead (chapter 155): “Words to be spoken over a djed-pillar . . . Raise yourself up, Osiris! You have your backbone once more . . . you have your vertebrae.”

Related

No Image Available

Egyptian

Mummy of Nesmin, 170-30 BCE
RISDM 38-206-2 v_01.jpg

Egyptian

Coffin of Nesmin, 170-30 BCE

More objects +

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Coffin and mummy of Nesmin with the accession number of 38.206. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

RISD Museum

  •  Facebook
  •  Twitter
  •  Instagram
  •  Vimeo
  •  Pinterest
  •  SoundCloud

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Give
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Secondary

  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use