Fragment of the Amenhaiu Coffin from the Collection of the Odesa Archaeological Museum of the NAS of Ukraine (Inv. No. 52611)

Abstract

The fragment of the coffin lid of Amenhaiu (OAM No. 52611) is published and discussed in the article. This fragment is an element of the lower part of the lid of a wooden anthropoid coffin (its base). Its dimensions are: height – 25 cm, width – 32 cm. The surface of the fragment is covered with yellow soil and decorated on both sides. On the inside, there are images of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys. Columns of hieroglyphic text are written on both sides. At the same time, on the inner side of the fragment the direction of text is different. The outer columns are read from top to bottom, and the three middle ones (written in larger hieroglyphs) from bottom to top. Five columns of hieroglyphic text have been preserved on the outer side (i.e. on the sole). This object could be originated from the former collection of Mykhailo Oleksandrovych Khitrovo (1837–1896), a famous diplomat, ambassador of the Russian Empire to Portugal, Romania, and Japan. During 1883–1886, he was diplomatic agent and consul general in Egypt, where he acquired a collection of Egyptian antiquities. It was transferred to the Odesa State Historical and Archaeological Museum in 1920. The owner of this coffin fragment could be identified as Amenhaiu son of Bakenamon, who was buried in the Theban tomb no. 408 at Asasif (Western Thebes). The coffin OAM no. 52611 can be dated by the end of the 20th Dynasty. Other elements of Amenhaiu’s burial assemblage, in particular, the rest of the coffin, have not yet been found.