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© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Peter Harholdt.
Oxyrhynchus Fish Votive
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Peter Harholdt.
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Peter Harholdt.
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Peter Harholdt.
ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Oxyrhynchus Fish Votive

AAT Object Form/FunctionFigurines
AAT Object Form/FunctionVotive Offerings
Place CreatedEgypt, Africa
CultureEgyptian
PeriodLate Period
Date722-332 BCE
MediumBronze, lapis lazuli, glass
Credit LineGift of the Connoisseurs
Dimensions4 x 4 13/16 in. (10.2 x 12.2 cm)
Object number1987.001
Label TextThis small statue group depicts a man kneeling before the larger figure of a fish. Resting atop a shrine inlaid with lapis lazuli and red glass, the fish wears a crown of cow horns and the sun disk. The distinctive appearance of the fish easily identifies it as the oxyrhynchus, a common African variety whose name means "pointed nose."

The oxyrhynchus is closely associated with the god Osiris, playing an integral role in the events leading up to the resurrection of the god. In the most complete account of the Osiris myth, recorded by the Greek Historian Plutarch in the first to second centuries AD, Osiris was dismembered by his vengeful brother, Seth. After Seth scattered the body parts throughout Egypt, Osiris's phallus was eaten by the oxyrhychus. Despite its participation in the downfall of Osiris, the fish was considered sacred. The Roman author Aelian, writing in the second to third centuries AD, attested that fisherman took great pains to remove the oxyrhynchus from their nets, though tomb representations do show the fish being caught for food.

The oxyrhynchus was also associated with the goddess Hathor and was frequently portrayed wearing her characteristic crown, as in this instance. During the Late period, there was a proliferation of small bronze images of deities presented as votive offerings in temples. The image often included a representation of the donor, as here, as additional proof of devotion. This fish was particularly sacred in the town of the same name, Oxyrhynchus (modern el-Behnasa), as well as at el-Omari, the site of a necropolis for mummified fish. It is possible that this figure was dedicated at such a cult center.
Exhibition HistorySelected Acquisitions: Asia to America, Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, May 8 - August 8, 1987
Across the Millennia: Antiques from the Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, Southern Bell Center, Atlanta, Georgia, January 6 - February 29, 1988
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 11, 1993 - March 2000
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2001 - Present
Published ReferencesMichael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1996), 22.
Peter Lacovara and Betsy Teasley Trope, The Realm of Osiris (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2001), 16.
Nicole K. Leong and Danielle Sass, "A Bronze Oxyrhynchus Fish in the Museum of Ancient Cultures, Macquarie University," The Bulletin of the Australian Centre for Egyptology 25 (2014): 76, figure 5.
ProvenanceEx coll. Natacha Rambova (1897-1966), California. Ex coll. Donald P. Hansen (1931-2007), New York. On loan from Hansen to Brooklyn Museum of Art (L67.27.2), Brooklyn, New York, November 8, 1967 - November 8, 1984. Purchased by Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology from Safani Gallery, New York, New York.
Status
On view
Collections
  • Ancient Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art