The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 26, 2024

Canopic Jar with Lid

Canopic Jar with Lid

1540–1296 BCE
(1540–1069 BCE)
limestone
Diameter: 23 cm (9 1/16 in.); Diameter of mouth: 10.6 cm (4 3/16 in.); Overall: 48.4 cm (19 1/16 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1914.630
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

Canopic jars are named after the Greek sailor Canopus, who was said to be buried at Canopus (Abuqir) in the western Nile delta and worshipped there in the form of a human-headed jar that was actually a form of Osiris and had nothing to do with internal organs. But the term has stuck.

Description

Embellished tulle strips delicately wrap around the length of the Dior gown like linen covering a mummified body. As European artists in the 1800s who journeyed to Egypt drew what they saw, for the Dior collection he designed, John Galliano sketched his experiences in Egypt to develop this theatrical collection, merging additional inspirations of medical bandages and fetish fashion. In ancient Egypt, mummification was the most sacred practice performed. Rituals, such as removing organs and placing them in canopic jars, like the one here, and wrapping bodies and putting them in coffins, helped ensure the deceased’s safe passage into the afterlife.
  • Joseph Hassan Ahmed, Luxor, sold to Lucy Olcott Perkins, through Henry W. Kent
    Lucy Olcott Perkins (1877-1922), New York, NY
    1914-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Inaugural Exhibition June 6-September 20, 1916. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916. no. 5, p. 204, pl. 340 archive.org
    Williams, Caroline Ransom. "The Egyptian Collection in the Museum of Art at Cleveland, OH," Journal of East Asian Archaeology 5 (1918). p. 278
    Berman, Lawrence M., and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999 Reproduced: p. 341; Mentioned: p. 340-341
    Gleisser, Benjamin, "Mystery of the Nile," Northern Ohio Live (September 1999). p. 26
    Herzberg, Anna, Prosopographia Memphitica, A Prosopographical Database (January 2021). ID 1494 anneherz.github.io
  • Egyptomania: Fashion's Conflicted Obsession. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 1, 2023-January 28, 2024).
    Untitled Exhibition. Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 13-November 9, 1973).
    Publicity Campaign. State Theater, Cleveland, OH (September 28-October 16, 1922).
    Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 6 - September 20, 1916).
  • {{cite web|title=Canopic Jar with Lid|url=false|author=|year=1540–1296 BCE|access-date=26 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1914.630