Canopic Jars

Were usually made of stone or ceramic and were used to preserve the mummy’s internal organs for the afterlife. They came in sets of four, one each for the stomach, the intestines, the lungs and the liver. As the seat of the soul the heart was left inside the mummified body. The lids could be either plain or shaped like the face of the deceased, the head of Anubis or the four sons of Horus. A variant myth tells that the brother were the sons of Osiris and born from a lily flower that rose from the first ocean.

This group comprises two lids each of Imseti and Daumutef and a third lid of Imseti, on the jar. The human-headed Imseti or Imset, was guardian of the liver and was himself protected by Isis. He is the only one of the sons of Horus shown as a human. His name may mean ‘he who smoothes or pleases’. The inscribed jar is a 19th century fake, made as a collector’s piece to go with the genuine lid.

Duamutef lid

This painted pottery lid depicts Horus’s jackal-headed son Duamutef, protector of the stomach and protected by the goddess Neith.