Besenmut, Priest of Montu at Thebes

This is the anthropoid wooden coffin of a man called Besenmut, who was a Priest of Montu at the Theban Temple. Dating from the 26th Dynasty, c. 664-525 B.C. also known as the Sais Dynasty or Saite Period.

Base and lid of the anthropoid wooden coffin of Besenmut, Priest of Montu at Thebes, with polychrome painted face, wig and collar, the rest of the exterior is covered with both vertical and horizontal registers of black painted hieroglyphs on a buff ground, in imitation of a papyrus text, giving Chapter CLIV of the Book of the Dead, the solitary vignette shows the mummy of the deceased on a bier receiving life and warmth from the rays of the solar disc.

Coffin of Besenmut, Priest of Montu at Thebes. British Museum. EA22940

Besenmut is painted with the traditional red skin of the Egyptian male, with an elaborate wig, usekh collar and false beard. The British Museum writes that the entire exterior of Besenmut’s coffin, “is covered with both vertical and horizontal registers of black painted hieroglyphs on a buff ground, in imitation of a papyrus text, giving Chapter CLIV of the Book of the Dead, the solitary vignette shows the mummy of the deceased on a bier receiving life and warmth from the rays of the solar disc.”