A finely modelled Egyptian cast bronze statuette depicting the mummiform god Osiris, portrayed wearing his standard attire, a close-fitted shroud. His wrists and hands poke out of vertical slits and meet in the centre of his body, just below his chest. He grasps a flail, nekhakha, in his left hand and a short-handled crook sceptre, heka, in his right hand. Osiris also wears the atef crown, consisting of the Upper Egyptian white crown flanked by two lateral plumes, and a uraeus, whose body extends up the crown. His body is mummified and presented on a square block base. The reverse features a suspension loop, suggesting that the statuette might have been worn as an amulet or placed in between the mummy’s wrappings.
Date: Circa 664 - 333 BC Period: Late Period Condition: Extremely fine, complete and intact. The piece has been mounted on a custom-made stand, ideal for display.
Osiris was one of the most significant and important god in the Egyptians pantheon. He is known largely as a god of fertility and of death, becoming god of the underworld. He is usually depicted as a green-faced man, to declare his association with the dead. He appears dressed in a burial shroud and wearing the Atef crown. In his role of lord of the underworld he was associated with each pharaoh as he died and thus was portrayed as a deceased pharaoh, as he is depicted on this figurine.
To discover more about amulets in the Ancient Egyptian world, please visit our relevant post: Amulets in Ancient Egypt.
