Coffin of Ta-mit (Lid)

Artist Unidentified

Period Late Period (Ancient Egyptian, 664–332 BCE)

Dynasty Dynasty 26 (Saite) (Ancient Egyptian, 664–525 BCE)

Place of OriginEgypt, reportedly from Luxor

Dateabout 600-550 BCE

DimensionsCoffin Top: 13 1/4 × 20 7/8 × 72 1/16 in. (33.7 × 53 × 183 cm)

Mediumsycamore wood, mud, paint, and beeswax

ClassificationMummies and Mummy Cases

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1906.1A

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 02, Classic

DescriptionThis object forms the upper half of an anthropoid coffin (see also 1906.1B, the trough). It is constructed from doweled sycamore wood planks, layered with mud and linen, and coated with gesso. Painted decoration in red, green, yellow, and black is applied over alternating yellow-toned backgrounds and sealed with beeswax. The exterior features a structured iconographic program: the sky goddess Nut stretches her wings across the chest, flanked by ankhs and wadjets. Below this, a Book of the Dead judgment scene shows Thoth guiding Ta-mit to Osiris. Further down, Ta-mit’s mummy lies on a lion-headed bier, her ba above and canopic jars below. Falcon heads of Horus and ram heads of Khnum decorate the limbs. Isis appears at the foot, and Nephthys at the headdress. Inside the lid, Nut appears again with arms extended protectively. Her beaded dress and solar disk reinforce solar rebirth imagery.

Label TextThis vividly painted coffin, made for a woman named Ta-mit, was crafted in Egypt during the Late Period to house and protect her body in the afterlife. Her name, written in hieroglyphs with the sign of a seated cat, means “she-cat,” and is inscribed throughout the surface along with the names of her parents—Nesu-Hor-Behdety and Neset-Menkhet. The coffin consists of two parts: a lid (1906.1A) and a trough (1906.1B). Both are adorned with scenes from the Book of the Dead and a host of protective symbols. On the lid, the sky goddess Nut stretches her wings across the chest, flanked by symbols of life and healing. Below her, the weighing of the heart scene unfolds—Thoth leads Ta-mit before Osiris, while her ba, the soul-bird, hovers over her mummified form on a lion-headed bier. The trough's base and lid interior each depict Nut again, enclosing the body in divine embrace. Hieroglyphs in black ink list offerings—bread, beer, oxen, incense, and milk—meant to sustain her eternally. Acquired by Edward Drummond Libbey in 1906, this coffin was among the museum’s first Egyptian acquisitions.Published ReferencesCatalogue of a Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, 1906, pp. 11-12, no. 1.

McMaster, Julie A., The Enduring Legacy: A Pictorial History of the Toledo Museum of Art, Superior Printing, Warren, OH, 2001, repr. (col.) p. 14.

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art Map & Guide, London, Scala, 2005, p. 6, repr. (col.)

Reich, Paula, Toledo Museum of Art: Map and Guide, London, Scala, 2009, p. 6, repr. (col.)

Peck, William H., Sandra E. Knudsen and Paula Reich, Egypt in Toledo: The Ancient Egyptian Collection at the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art, 2011, p. 82-83, repr. (col.) p. 11, 82, (det.) p 83.

Fortenberry, Diane ed., Souvenirs and New Ideas: Travel and Collecting in Egypt and the Near East, Oxford, UK, Oxbow Books, 2013, p. 28, repr. fig. 3.6, p. 30.