In traditional mummification, the internal organs (lungs, stomach, liver, intestines) are removed from the body, dried, treated separately, wrapped, and either returned to the body or placed in jars beside the coffin. The oldest examples of canopic jars have plain, flat lids, but by the Middle Kingdom, images of the face of the deceased were often sculpted onto the lids, and by the end of the New Kingdom, and for the rest of pharaonic culture, the heads on the lids were usually those of four minor deities, the Sons of Horus. Usually Duamutef, with his canine head, protected the stomach, though the distribution of organs into jars was not always precise.
By the time this Duamutef was carved, many mummies had their organs returned to the body cavity. An empty set of canopic jars were then supplied to the burial. There is no way to know if this particular Son of Horus ever actually guarded a body part, or merely formed part of a well-furnished grave.
