Ernest Brummer and the Coffin of Nefer-renepet From Akhmim

Abstract

The coffin of Nefer-renepet was donated to the National Museum in Belgrade by Ernest Brummer (born in Sombor in 1881) in 1921. The coffin is a fine example of the artistry of the funerary industry of ancient Akhmim. Previous publications have classified this object as belonging to the 22nd-25th Dynasty or Ptolemaic period. The present analysis indicates that it dates to the period of the mid-4th century B.C., i.e. 30th Dynasty, based on stylistic comparisons, orthography and genealogical information from similar coffins in other collections. This stylistic/chronological phase is not well-represented numerically, and this makes Nefer-renepet’s coffin all the more important. The design characteristics of the phase broadly emulate those of the 26th Dynasty, but they are clearly distinguishable as belonging to a later era. Among the many distinctive aspects of Nefer-renepet’s coffin is the interior decoration of its lid, published here for the first time, showing the ‘gliding Nut motif with upward streaming hair’ accompanied by abbreviated texts derived from the Book of Day and Book of Night. The goddess represented on the coffin trough is Imentet, with the maat-feather on her head as a reduction of the full hieroglyphic symbol for West.

Keywords

• Ernest Brummer
• Nefer-renepet
• Akhmim
• coffin
• Nut
• Imentet