Coffin of Nespahertahat

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Third Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21 (about 1069 –945 BCE)

Egyptian; Thebes (possibly Deir el-Bahri)

The lid of this anthropoid (human-shaped) coffin represents its owner, Nesi-pa-her-hat, with his arms crossed over his chest. When Nesi-pa-her-hat lived in Thebes (now Luxor) approximately 3000 years ago, elite Egyptians no longer constructed elaborately decorated tomb chapels. Instead, scenes designed to guide and sustain the deceased in the afterlife were painted on nesting sets of wooden coffins. This is the inner coffin of what was likely a set of two that would have added an extra layer of protection. Drawn from contemporary mythological papyri, the intricate painted decoration here presents Nesi-pa-her-hat in the company of the gods and goddesses who protect him in the afterlife.

Status: On View, Gallery 50
Department: Arts of Africa

Culture: Ancient Egyptian
Title: Coffin of Nespahertahat
Place: Ancient Egypt (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1069 BCE–945 BCE
Medium: Wood and pigment
Dimensions: 58.4 × 182.8 × 58.4 cm (23 × 72 × 23 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Henry H. Getty, Charles L. Hutchinson, Robert H. Fleming, and Norman W. Harris
Reference Number: 1894.369a-b
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/248557/manifest.json

James Henry Breasted, “Report on the Egyptian Antiquities,” The Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 17 (1896), p. 32.
Thomas George Allen, A Handbook of the Egyptian Collection (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1923), pp. 10-12 (ill.), 16, 45.
C. Ransom Williams, “Review: The Chicago Art Institute Egyptian Collection,” The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, 41, 3 (April 1925), p. 204.
Andrzej Niwinski, 21st Dynasty Coffins from Thebes: Chronological and Typological Studies, Theben 5 (P. von Zabern, 1988), p. 134, no. 158.
Karl Jansen-Winkeln, Inschriften der Spätzeit. Teil I: Die 21. Dynastie (Harrassowitz, 2007), p. 258, no. 151.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,”in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 24.

Art Institute of Chicago, Life and Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, Feb. 11, 2022 - present.

The Art Institute of Chicago, acquired in 1894; purchased with funds provided by Henry H. Getty, Charles L. Hutchinson, Robert H. Fleming, and Norman W. Harris.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.