New Kingdom coffin
- Gallery: Room 63
- Culture: New Kingdom
- Object type: coffin
- Materials: wood; gold
- Museum number: EA48001
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
This is a painted and gilded wooden anthropoid coffin from the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, belonging to a woman named Henutmehyt. You’ll notice the realistic human form of the coffin, a feature that became common during this period. Her inlaid eyes give the impression of gazing outward, a detail meant to suggest she remains watchful beyond death. The use of gold highlights and colorful pigments reflects a desire to preserve beauty in the afterlife. Such coffins often held the mummified body inside another layer of wrappings. This one was acquired in 1912 from Egypt, part of a time when Egyptian art and artifacts began to appear in collections around the world.
See it in person
New Kingdom coffin is on display in Room 63 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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