Goddess Nephthys

By Jacqueline Engel

Goddess Nephthys wearing a headdress in the shape of a house and basket watches over the lungs with Hapi.

Four goddesses with open arms watch over the organs of the sovereign.

They are identified by the hieroglyphs on their heads and on the low reliefs of the sanctuary walls.

Each goddess faces and is associated with one of the four children of Horus whose duty was to preserve the king’s organs: the goddess Isis watches over the liver with Imset, Nephthys the lungs with Hapi, Neith the stomach with Duamutef and Selket the intestines with Qebehsenuf.

Characteristics typical of the art of Amarna can be seen in the slight rotation of the statues’ heads (compared to the frontal tradition of Egyptian statuary), the long neck stretching forwards and the naturalistic modelling of the bodies.

Detail of Canopic Shrine of Tutankhamon

Wood lined with stucco and gilded, glass paste

Tomb of Tutankhamon, KV 62

Valley of the Kings

Egyptian Museum, Cairo