One of the MAS’s highlights is this wooden coffin,
complete with mummy, that was presented to the
Antwerp Museum of Antiquities, then housed in the Museum
Steen, by distiller Louis Meeùs in 1888. The coffin is
thought to be that of Nesi-Khonsu,. It probably
comes from a so-called ‘cachette’ dating from the 21st
Dynasty (1070–945 BCE), such as are found in the
vicinity of Deir el-Bahari. The temple singer Nesi-
Khonsu was connected with the cult of the sun god
Amun-Ra.
Nesi-Khonsu’s wooden coffin is probably
an example of serial manufacture. The name would
be filled in only when the funeral took place and
sometimes not even then. Its surface is covered with
texts and images from the 'Book of the Dead' – these
were intended to guide the deceased to the realm of
Osiris, who ruled the Egyptian underworld but was
also associated with new life for people, plants and
animals. Osiris, who was often depicted as a
mummy, was the brother and husband of Isis and the
father of Horus. In his netherworld kingdom the
mummified deceased, nourished by offerings of food
and drink, began a new, eternal life.
