Lid of a Canopic
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Lid of a Canopic
Egypt; Middle Kingdom; 2040-1640 BC
In the process of mummification the internal organs were taken out of the body balsamated and placed in separate canopic jars. The heart remained in the body. Each organ was under the protection of one of four sons of Horus whose faces appear on the lid, and of four goddesses.
Canopic jars were kept in chests in the shape of little shrines and decorated in the same way as coffins and inside are usually divided into four compartments. The most usual materials for making canopic jars were alabaster or limestone, only the poor had clay jars.