Wax Viscera Figurine of Imsety

Possible OriginTanis, Egypt, Africa

CultureEgyptian

PeriodThird Intermediate Period, Dynasty 21 - Dynasty 22

Date1076-746 BCE

MediumBeeswax

Credit LineGift of the Georges Ricard Foundation

Dimensions3 3/8 x 13/16 x 11/16 in., 11 g (8.5 x 2 x 1.7 cm, 3/8 oz.)

Object number2018.010.133

Label TextThis dark amber beeswax figurine once belonged to a set of the four sons of Horus, whose heads usually adorned canopic jar lids. By Dynasty 21, canopic jars were rarely used to house the embalmed organs of a deceased individual. Instead, the organs were embalmed, wrapped in linen, and placed at the back of the mummified body. Within each of these four linen parcels was placed a wax figure of one of the four sons of Horus.

The god Imsety protected the liver. His human head is carefully modeled, and he wears a lappet wig. The remains of his protruding elbows suggest the arms were once crossed. The figurine has incised crossed bands at the front and back and an etched horizontal band at the waist.
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 98.

ProvenanceAcquired by Georges Ricard (1921-2012) from a European collection through Jean-François Mignon, Aix-en Provence, France, 1974. Ex coll. Musée de l'Égypte et le Monde Antique, Collection Sanousrit, Monaco, 1975-1982. Ex coll. Georges Ricard Foundation, Santa Barbara, California.

Status

Not on view

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