Canopic Jar with a Lead in the Form of a Baboons Head - Article Example

Lecturer: Topic: The Formal Analysis Canopic jar with a lead in the form of a baboons head Canopic jars were utilized by the Egyptians during mummification process as storage for the preservation of viscera of their owners in preparation for the afterlife. They were usually curved form limestone or made of pottery and were common from the time of the Old Kingdom up to the time of the Late Period also known as the Ptolemaic Period, by which the viscera were typically wrapped and returned into the body.

Each canopic jar was meant for particular body organs so that the organs were not kept in the same canopic jar (Devore 348). The canopic jar with a lid that depicts a baboons head is under the classical collection in the Indianapolis Museum of Art and is associated with the ancient Egyptian culture. It is presumed to have been created between 664 and 332 BC using limestone as the main material. Standing at elven inches, it was the canopic jar that was used for the storage of the lungs during mummification.

The Baboon at the top of the canopic jar is linked with Nepthys who was a goddess that guided and protected Isis, her sister to bring together the different parts of Osiris’s body after he was killed and thrown into the Nile. Mummy Mask A vital component of the mummy was a mask that resembled a headdress that was positioned over the crown of the frame that wrapped in linen. The mask had characteristically young-looking physical characteristics that were not supposed to demonstrate a similarity to the departed but exhibit a perfect appearance of their presence in the life after death.

This particular example possesses many typical features that are characteristic of these masks and it was made using cartonnage that is a material which is light in weight which is formed by coating layers of linen with plaster. The deific position of the person wearing it is symbolized by the skin which is gold-plated and the extension was used as symbolism of the deific position of the person wearing it. The mask has a decorated collar with a gold-plated and winged scarab beetle on the head that was believed to promote the rebirth of the departed.

The mask is believed to have been created between 332 and 30 BC and apart from linen and plaster that was used to make the mask, papyrus, pigment and gold was also used. The dimensions of the mask are fourteen inches by ten and a half inches and the iconography of this mask is characteristically pharaonic where the wings and the sun disc that symbolize the scarab beetle that is linked to the rising and setting of the sun and therefore rebirth (Budge 185). The scarab’s wings divide the mask into two where the front is painted in green while the back is painted in red with a white coloured tie at the back as well as a curl block in red.

The deceased were identified with Osiris who is the god of the underground and died but was reborn in the afterlife through the faced that is coloured in gold. Works cited Budge, Ernest A. Wallis. “The Mummy”. 1st ed. [New York]: Biblio and Tannen, 1964. Print. Devore, Gary M. “Walking Tours Of Ancient Rome”. 1st ed. [S.l.: s.n.], 2008. Print.