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Unknown Maker, Egyptian

Coffin and mummy of Nesmin
Now On View

Description

Maker

Unknown Maker, Egyptian

Culture

Egyptian

Title

Coffin and mummy of Nesmin

Period

Ptolemaic

Year

170-30 BCE

Medium

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

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

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

Materials

gesso, glass, gilding, linen, cartonnage, wood

Geography

Archaeological Site: Found at Thebes

Dimensions

Length: 179.1 cm (70 1/2 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum Appropriation Fund and Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

38.206

Type

  • Artifacts

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

Selected Works

Articles

Serpentipity
Mummy's Boy

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Ancient Egyptian Galleries
Jun 10, 2014

Label copy

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 Objects

Related Objects

Unknown Maker, Egyptian

Coffin of Nesmin, Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 BCE

More objects +

Use & Feedback

Image 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 and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Egyptian
Coffin and mummy of Nesmin, 170-30 BCE
Coffin: wood, gesso, gilding, paint, and colored glass
Length: 179.1 cm (70 1/2 inches)
Museum Appropriation Fund and Mary B. Jackson Fund 38.206

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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.

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