singing cinerary urn

In the 19th century these Etruscan jars were misidentified as canopic jars due to their resemblance with Egyptian funerary equipment. 

Canopic jars are themselves misnamed by early explorers due to resemblance of jars that held mummified internal organs to jars with Osiris' head that were used in worship in the area of Canopus an area named by the Greeks after a Homeric hero commander and pilot of Menelaus' ship, so all jars with heads were called canopic jars. 

Canopic jars are fascinating. They're usually simple and rather rough clay with primitive execution and basic paints. However the ones in King Tutankhamen's tomb are outstanding. They do not follow the usual form. Inside the alabaster jars all with the same king's head, two pairs facing each other and stored inside an alabaster case in the shape of shrine on a sled, itself stored in another larger shrine, are four small pure gold coffins that rival the larger solid gold coffin that holds the body in excellence in execution. These miniatures are exquisitely detailed and all four masterpieces in their own right. These were in the last room of the touring exhibit, and honestly, I could have stood before them and studied them all day. Intricate hieroglyphs etched on their insides as if printed with a typewriter. I took other people to the show five times and each time I had to be peeled away from them. My guests just didn't have the patience. There were a few fascinating model boats in that last room too. The boats look like toys.