Coffin Set of Henuttawy

The inner coffin lid of Henuttawy is painted yellow all over, imitating royal coffins made of solid gold or gilded wood. The pectoral is only slightly less elaborate than the one on her outer lid (25.3.182a, b).

Its main feature is a large scarab that pushes a sun disk upward to symbolize the rising sun. On each side are enthroned figures of Osiris holding the crook and flail and wearing tall headdresses with ostrich-feather plumes (note his green flesh, symbolizing vegetation, which goes through a cycle of death followed by new growth, and thus represents the rebirth into life after death).

Detail of the Inner Coffin of the Chantress of Amun-Re Henuttawy

Osiris is flanked by two winged goddesses, his sisters Isis and Nephthys, who raise one hand in adoration and sound their sistrums. In front of them are tiny ba spirits of Henuttawy.

On the central vertical band, beneath Nut with her outspread wings, are (from top to bottom) a shrine with two crouching figures of Osiris flanking a scarab, Isis and Nephthys adoring the symbol of Osiris, a scepter flanked by winged wedjat eyes, and a winged scarab above the boat of the sun.

Note the recurrent representations of reed mats (shown as horizontal bars with vertical subdivisions), upon which high-status people sat and on which offerings were presented; protective cobras with sun-disk headdresses; floral designs; and the hieroglyphs for “stability” and “perfect.”

Aside from her rather simple personal jewelry, Henuttawy’s main burial equipment consisted of two splendid coffins (25.3.182a, b; 25.3.183a, b) and a mummy board (25.3.184), fitting one into the other like parts of a Russian doll. Both coffins and the mummy board are shaped like wrapped mummies with elaborate masks fastened over the heads.

The Mistress of the House, Singer of Amun-Re, Henuttawy died at the young age of twenty-one. She was buried in a plundered tomb, which had originally been the resting place of Minmose, an official of Hatshepsut. The burial was a modest one, including a set of coffins and personal jewelry. Henuttawy’s body was not embalmed but simply wrapped in layers of linen bandages.