Egyptian Alabaster Canopic Jar with Imsety Head Lid

• Canopic Jars - Canopic jars or boxes were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the internal organs of their owner for the afterlife. They were commonly either carved from a stone such as alabaster, or were made of wood or pottery.
• Incised - A record of a name, date or inscription, or a decoration scratched into a surface, usually of a glass or ceramic item with a blunt instrument to make a coarse indentation. Compare with engraving where the surface is cut with a sharp instrument such as a metal needle or rotating tool to achieve a fine indentation.
• Alabaster - Alabaster is soft natural stone used for statuary, with a similar appearance to marble, but easier to work with. As it is softer than marble, an item made from alabaster can be scratched with a metal object, and an alabaster item does not polish to a high surface gloss like marble.
  
  Alabaster objects can be semi-translucent. Alabaster occurs in a pure white form and also with veining from dirt. Colours vary from white through yellow and pink to brown. The veining is usually green or black but can be multicoloured.
  
  Being semi-translucent, alabaster is often used for the bowls of figural lamps, with the figure itself being either alabaster or marble.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Egyptian antiquities - canopic vases and jars 5