© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University

ClassificationsAncient Egyptian Art

Statuette of Nefertum

Place CreatedEgypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodLate Period, Dynasty 25-26

Date722-525 BCE

MediumBronze

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions9 x 1 7/8 x 2 5/8 in., 605 g (22.8 x 4.7 x 6.7 cm, 1 lb. 5 5/16 oz.)

Object number2018.010.795

Label TextIn the ancient Egyptian creation myth, the sun rose from a lotus blossom on the mound of creation, which associated the god Nefertum with the newborn sun. When Ptah became a chief state god, Nefertum was seen as the son of Ptah and the lioness goddess Sekhmet. In the Late Period, statuettes of Nefertum were deposited in temples and shrines at Memphis and Bubastis.

The god Nefertum is distinguished by his lotus blossom headdress from which two plumes emerge. Menat counterweights (fertility symbols) rest on either side of the lotus. The striding god wears a tripartite wig with a uraeus, a divine curled beard, and a shendyt-kilt. He holds a scimitar with a papyrus-form grip surmounted by the head of the solar falcon wearing a wig and the sun disk.
Exhibition HistoryMichael C. Carlos Museum, Veneralia 2019 Senuseret Collection Preview, May 18, 2019
Life 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 36.

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

Status

Not on view

Collections