This wooden rectangular coffin was excavated in tomb 130, at Beni Hasan on the east bank of the Nile.
Its small size shows it was intended for a child. However, it contained the skeleton of an adult man, whose mummy must have decayed and been reburied.
The box is painted to resemble the walls of a mud brick palace. The eyes on the left side allow the deceased to be reborn daily by watching the rising sun.
Bands of hieroglyphics identify the coffin as being for a man called Nakht. The leopard skin painted on the lid shows he was a Sem-priest, who would revitalise the mummified body in the Opening of the Mouth ceremony.
Nakht coffin and skeleton
Middle Kingdom, 12th dynasty
1985–1795BCE
Painted wood
Size 213mm x 1000mm x 245mm
Given by the Egyptian Research Students' Association (Glasgow Branch), 1923
Number 1923.33.a.1–2