Canopic Chest of the Tutankhamun

1550 BC -1069 BC New Kingdom

The canopic chest of Tutankhamun was designed to hold the removed organs during mummification in four separate compartments (each contained within an exquisite miniature gilded coffin). Although such chests had been seen before, the pristine beauty now revealed was something entirely new.

Traditionally, the four canopic jars in Egyptian tombs had covers carved with the heads of the four sons of Horus (each was a guardian of a separate organ) but in the case of Tutankhamun, all four bear the delightful miniature heads of alabaster for the young king himself.

Location:
The Egyptian Museum, Cairo.