Ancient Egypt – Cheapskate Coffin Makers

About 3,000 years ago, a man named Nespawershefyt, a priest at the temple of Amun at Karnak (in modern Luxor), commissioned a set of coffins for himself.

He wanted an outer coffin and an inner coffin – the smaller of the two to be placed in the larger, much like Russian dolls – and a mummy board that would be placed on top of his embalmed and wrapped body.

Unbeknown to Nespawershefyt, the artisans he had chosen to make his coffins were cheapskates.

  • The wood they chose for the inner coffin was poor and needed lots of patching.
  • They were good at painting though. All the patches were expertly covered with bright yellow paint and text.
  • The coffins were delivered but not needed for years.

Sometime before his death Nespawershefyt decided to update his funerary inscriptions: he had received a promotion at the temple and wanted to mention his new higher-level position on his coffins.

You cannot leave your CV out-of-date for eternity, so the artisans set to work once again.

The coffins can be seen at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

Dimension(s):
depth, 49, cm, width, 60, cm, length, 206, cm, length, 190, cm, length, mummy board, 179, cm

Acquisition:
given; 1822; Hanbury, Barnard, Waddington, George
Accession: Object Number: E.1.1822