NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XVIII, REIGN OF TUTHMOSIS III, 1479-1425 B.C.

Details

TWO EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE CANOPIC JARS AND LIDS FOR THE ROYAL WIFE MANUWAI
NEW KINGDOM, DYNASTY XVIII, REIGN OF TUTHMOSIS III, 1479-1425 B.C.
The jars both with a flat base, tapering sides and rounded shoulders, the shorter of the two with four vertical columns of hieroglyphs inlaid with "Egyptian blue," the lid human-headed, depicting the deceased with a plain wig framing the triangular face, the eyes with modelled upper lids with extending cosmetic lines and conforming brows, with a small nose and slightly smiling mouth, preserving traces of black pigment on the eyes; the taller with three vertical columns of hieroglyphs similarly inlaid, the lid human-headed, the face mostly lost
Taller: 15 15/16 in. (40.5 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

Metropolitan Museum of Art, deaccessioned in 1956.

Literature

C. Lilyquist, The Tomb of Three Foreign Wives of Tuthmosis III, New York, 2003, pp. 126-127, nos. 2 and 3, figs. 94a-b, 95a-c.

Lot Essay

According to Lilyquist (op. cit., p. 126-127), both jars belong to Manuwai, one of three foreign wives of Tuthmosis III buried together in a tomb in the Wady Gabbanat el-Qurud near Luxor. Her name and those of Manhata and Maruta are thought to be West Semitic. The preserved lids of the three queens each display a distinct physiognomy, with those for Manuwai being the most finely worked, displaying "a well-formed heart-shape face (op. cit. p. 126)." Both jars preserve bits of plaster and gold leaf on the interior from now lost mummified packages which may once have had gilded masks. For a full discussion of the tomb and its contents see Lilyquist, op. cit., and Lilyquist, "The Tomb of Tuthmosis III's Foreign Wives: A Survey of Its Architectural Type, Contents, and Foreign Connections."

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