Mnevis’s canopy glass

On January 21 we shared in this blog an entry about ten treasures, or ten wonders that are found and can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid, and that are connected with Malaga, given its origin or its discovery.

Of all of them, an Egyptian funerary object that was found or at least documented for the first time at the end of the 18th century at a particular estate near Churriana was particularly striking.

It is the canopy glass of Mnevis. A funerary alabaster glass made in the XXVI Dynasty, which runs from 672 to 525 a. C., and that was also the last native dynasty that ruled Egypt before the Persian conquest.

A canopic vessel is the vessel used in Ancient Egypt to deposit the viscera of the deceased, washed and embalmed, to keep the unitary image of the body safe.

In this case, the vessel houses the viscera of a bull, which was worshiped in Heliopolis, capital of Nome XIII of Lower Egypt, located northeast of the city of Cairo.

These are, in broad strokes, its characteristics:

• Shape: Canopy glass with human head.
• Technique: carving and polishing.
• Style: Egyptian art (Low era).
• Material: alabaster (veined stone).
• Height: 75 centimeters.

Are you not fascinated that something like this was found in Malaga?