Viscera figure with human head (Imsety)

Viscera figure with human head (Imsety)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Four "viscera" figures, meant to protect the internal organs, were found inside the mummy of Djedmutesankh. Representing the Four Sons of Horus, these were associated with four of the seven packages of viscera that had been removed, dessicated, wrapped in linen, and put back inside the body. Human-headed, this example represents Imsety, usually seen as the embodiment and protector of the liver.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Viscera figure with human head (Imsety)Viscera figure with human head (Imsety)Viscera figure with human head (Imsety)Viscera figure with human head (Imsety)Viscera figure with human head (Imsety)

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.