Sarcophagus
Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art
On View: Old Kingdom to 18th Dynasty, Egyptian Galleries, 3rd Floor
Found in a royal tomb, this sarcophagus, or monumental coffin, housed the mummy of a prince or his wife. A pattern of niches imitating the designs on palace walls decorates its surface, alluding to the sarcophagus’s function as the deceased’s final home. Holes drilled in each end of the lid allowed poles or ropes to be inserted in order to carry it and position it on the box.
MEDIUM
Granite
DATES
ca. 2585–2532 B.C.E.
DYNASTY
Dynasty 4
PERIOD
Old Kingdom
DIMENSIONS
51 1/4 x 93 1/4 x 41 in. (130.2 x 236.9 x 104.1 cm)
Cavity: 27 3/16 × 23 13/16 × 74 in. (69 × 60.5 cm, 1.88 m)
(show scale)
ACCESSION NUMBER
48.110
CREDIT LINE
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
PROVENANCE
Eastern cemetery, mastaba G7650, pit C, the tomb of Prince Akhethotep (Akhethetep), Giza, Egypt; before 1942, excavated by George Reisner for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; 1948, purchased from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Red granite sarcophagus with separate cover. No inscription. Facade panelling around all exterior surfaces of box. Upright, running full width at each end of cover, each with two drill holes. Cover undecorated and perhaps unfinished. Rebate on under-side of cover. Probably belonging to prince Akhet-hotep.
Condition: Three corners of box chipped. Scattered chips along base. Lower edge of cover chipped. General condition excellent. Very slight remains of paint along upper borders of box.
CAPTION
Sarcophagus, ca. 2585–2532 B.C.E. Granite, 51 1/4 x 93 1/4 x 41 in. (130.2 x 236.9 x 104.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 48.110. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 48.110_SL3.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 48.110_SL3.jpg., 2017
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a
Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online
application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the
United States Library of Congress,
Cornell University,
Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and
Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our
blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact
copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and
we welcome any additional information you might have.
