Shrew Coffin of Pahapy
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Object Label
Bronze coffins added value to votive mummies and possibly were thought to help influence the god to help the petitioner. A man named Pahapy used this coffin for a shrew mummy. The Egyptians regarded shrews as guardians of the sun god Re and included requests to him in many types of animal cemeteries.
Caption
Shrew Coffin of Pahapy, 664–30 B.C.E.. Bronze, 2 1/8 x 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 in., 0.6 lb. (5.4 x 3.8 x 8.9 cm, 0.25kg). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.411Ea. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum (Gavin Ashworth, photographer), 37.411E_Gavin_Ashworth_photograph.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Title
Shrew Coffin of Pahapy
Date
664–30 B.C.E.
Dynasty
Dynasty 26, or later
Period
Late Period to Ptolemaic Period
Geography
Possible place made: Lower Egypt, Egypt
Medium
Bronze
Classification
Dimensions
2 1/8 x 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 in., 0.6 lb. (5.4 x 3.8 x 8.9 cm, 0.25kg)
Credit Line
Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
Accession Number
37.411Ea
Rights
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
Frequent Art Questions
What Egyptian god is the shrew is supposed to be associated with?
Shrews were used to stand in for the ichneumon, the African mongoose. The ichneumon was associated with Horus and the god Atum, and was worshipped for it's ability to see in the dark and ability to kill snakes.You might have seen a small statue of a king and (much larger) Ichneumon elsewhere in the exhibition!Interesting! I knew the ichneumon was variously worshipped, also as the goddess Mafdet, but I didn't know the shrew could be a possible stand-in for it.Isn't it fascinating?It really is!
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