Egyptian Painted Gesso/Cedar Canopic Box w/ Ba Bird

Egypt, Third Intermediate to Late Dynastic Period, 25th to 26th Dynasty, ca. 744 to 525 BCE. A beautiful canopic box of a rare form, hand-carved from cedar wood, with four body panels connected via several original wooden dowels. Resting atop a rectangular base, the lid features recessed corners that fit around the four corner columns. The body, base, and lid are covered in thin layers of white gesso and painted with polychrome hues of green, blue, white, and red.

The box features five figures standing in mummiform that surround columns of black-painted hieroglyphic inscriptions, and bars of enclosed stripes adorn the peripheral areas. Surmounting the lid is a vibrant polychrome Ba bird with a lengthy tail, a squat body, and a gilt wood sun disk. This bird is meant to represent Ra-Horakhty. While the original contents are unknown, this box was perhaps used as an animal coffin to contain the mummified remains of a petite creature.

Condition: Chips and losses to base, walls, lid, Ba bird, some dowels, and gesso layers as shown. Fading to original pigment, with minor darkening to gilding on Ba bird, staining to original pigmentation, and loosening to walls and joint areas. Great earthen deposits and wonderful traces of original pigment throughout.