Inner Coffin of Merit

In the reign of Amenhotep III, a well-to-do Theban was expected to lie in two human-shaped coffins, a black one picked out in gold and, inside it, one gilded all over. Merit's single coffin puts both into one object. The box is coated in black resin with figures and inscriptions in gold leaf, like Kha's middle coffin, while the lid is gilded from end to end, like his inner one. The museum calls it unique so far, and suggests it was a way of giving one coffin the meaning of two.

The work is plainer than on Kha's coffins. The face is more roughly carved, and the inscriptions are incised into the wood, where on his coffins they are modelled in plaster. Those texts name only Kha, and the coffin is larger than she needed, so the museum thinks it may have been prepared for him in the first place. When it was found, the coffin was wrapped in a linen sheet. Inside the box, a large figure of the sky goddess Nut is painted along the floor.