Rishi coffin


Rishi coffins are funerary coffins adorned with a feather design, which were used in Ancient Egypt. They are typical of the Egyptian Second Intermediate Period, to 1550 BC. The name comes from ريشة, Arabic for "feather".

Development

Ancient Egyptian Coffins

Coffins were a central element of Ancient Egyptian funerary practices. They came in two basic shapes - rectangular and anthropoid.
During the Old Kingdom coffins were rectangular, which continued to be the dominant shape until the later part of the Middle Kingdom.

Anthropoid Coffins

In the Middle Kingdom anthropoid coffins started to appear, with sporadic examples known from the 11th Dynasty.
Designed to mimic mummies, they depict a human head and body without separate arms or legs, as if wrapped in linen. Such early anthropoid coffins were always enclosed within rectangular coffins rather than being independent burial containers.

Rishi Coffins

During the Second intermediate period, perhaps as early as the 13th Dynasty, Rishi coffins first appear. These anthropoid coffins were decorated all over with a feather design and are no longer placed within an outer, rectangular coffin.
In the Late 13th Dynasty, the earliest example mentioned in literature is the coffin of the scribe of the great enclosure Neferhotep. However, this coffin was only described by the excavator and is now lost.
The earliest secure known examples of rishi coffins belong to the kings of the 17th Dynasty, and were found in the 19th century at Thebes. The depicted person most often wears a nemes headdress, the body is covered with feathers, there is an inscription in the middle going from the top to the bottom and on the chest are shown a vulture and a cobra, both royal symbols.
From the 17th Dynasty many private rishi coffins are known. This type of coffin is still attested in the early New Kingdom, but is later replaced by other coffin types.

Literature