Osiris

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period, Dynasty 26

Date664-525 BCE

MediumBronze, gold inlay

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions10 9/16 x 2 7/8 x 1 7/8 in., 1630 g (26.8 x 7.3 x 4.8 cm, 3 lb. 9 1/2 oz.)

Object number2018.010.533

Label TextOsiris was the god of death, fertility, and resurrection, whose cult center was at Abydos. He wears an Atef-crown with a central miter flanked by two ostrich feathers. A uraeus cobra sits above his brow. The god’s face is rounded with full facial features. His eyes are inlaid, and plaits of his beard are highlighted in gold leaf. The god’s body is enveloped in a mummified cloak that rises at the back. His hands project from under his cloak, one above the other, and hold the god’s traditional insignia, the heka-scepter and neheh-flail. A broad collar decorates his chest. The legible hieroglyphs on the front socle read, “[Osiris]-Wennefer,” and on the left socle, “giver of life…” The name of the figurine’s donor is destroyed.
Exhibition HistoryLife and the Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 4 - August 6, 2023
Published ReferencesMelinda K. Hartwig, ed., Life and The Afterlife: Ancient Egyptian Art from the Senusret Collection (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2023), catalogue entry 37.

ProvenanceEx coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California, possibly purchased from Jean-François Mignon, Aix-en Provence, France.

Status

Not on view

Collections