Towards the time of the Twentieth Dynasty, it became customary to enclose the bodies of sacred animals in vases of this type.

Those found near Ekhmim contain jackals and hawks; those of Sakkarah are devoted to serpents, eggs, and mummified rats; those of Abydos hold the sacred ibis.

These last are by far the finest.

On the body of the vase, the protecting goddess Khuit is depicted with outspread wings, while Horus and Thoth are seen presenting the bandage and the unguent vase; the whole subject being painted in blue and red upon a white ground.

From the time of the Greek domination, the national poverty being always on the increase, baked clay was much used for coffins as well as for canopic vases.