Coffins of the Third Intermediate Period Research Papers (original) (raw)

As part of the next Vatican Coffin Conference, I would like to present a paper focusing on the mummy and the coffin, from an art historical perspective, that is seen as images.
During my PhD thesis, I became interested in the ways the ancient Egyptians viewed the mummy and its counterpart, the coffin, through their representations in funerary scenes. My reflection started by studying the various supports (heap of sand, rectangular pedestal similar to a statue base, maat-shaped base, or reed mat.) shown under the feet of the standing mummy (or coffin), in the depictions of the funeral. It developed my curiosity about their signification and what they say about the couple mummy/coffin.
One cannot but underline the analogy in ancient Egypt between the statue and the body, particularly the tenuous borders between the statue, the mummy and the anthropoid mummiform coffin, at least during the New Kingdom and its aftermath (early Third Intermediate Period), each one functioning as a substitude body for the deceased. As pointed out by J. Assmann, « the mummy was treated like a statue, and the statue was treated like a mummy ; both served the deceased as bodies, that is, as instruments of his continued life ». Thus, both were the object of the ritual of the Opening of the Mouth, as well as the coffin, once it started being modelled on the mummified body (12th Dynasty). This kinship between the statue, the mummy and the anthropoid mummiform coffin can also be perceived in the writing of the words saH « mummy ; form » and twt « statue, image », both using a standing mummiform figure as a determinative.
Following these reflections, I would like to address two issues during this conference:
- the mummy and the coffin seen as images of the deceased ;
- the depiction of the said mummy and coffin on a flat surface, with an interesting shift between the New Kingdom and the early Third Intermediate Period, as funerary practices underwent some radical changes: the preferred medium for imagery shifted from the tomb walls to the coffin and, to a lesser extent, to funerary papyri and stelae, as tombs were no longer decorated.