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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1955.129
Title
Standing Osiris
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
mid 7th-late 1st century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Egypt (Ancient)
Period
Late Period to Ptolemaic
Culture
Egyptian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/312251

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
16.8 x 4.7 x 3.5 cm (6 5/8 x 1 7/8 x 1 3/8 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Bronze:
Cu, 89.32; Sn, 10.23; Pb, 0.22; Zn, 0.011; Fe, 0.05; Ni, 0.09; Ag, 0.04; Sb, less than 0.02; As, less than 0.10; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.043; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001
J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The statuette is a solid cast. The surface is not well preserved, and corrosion produces obscure surface detail. A hole at the front part of the feet, now filled with wax, is modern. The patina is green with spots of red. Pseudomorphs of a plain weave fabric cover a 1.5 x 2.5 cm area on the upper back. It is very fine, with about 40 threads per cm.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Aimée and Rosamond Lamb, Milton, MA (by 1955), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1955.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Misses Aimée and Rosamond Lamb
Accession Year
1955
Object Number
1955.129
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This beautifully modeled, complete statuette of Osiris has a ridge of shroud around the back of the shoulders and slits for the arms; it is similar to 48.1965. The crook and flail are held in hands positioned one above the other. Osiris wears the atef crown and uraeus, but without the projecting ram's horns. There is a square-shaped peg under the feet. The surface is heavily corroded and covered in burial accretions that are scattered over the front of the chest, head, and headdress and obscure the broad collar and counterpoise. A fine weave pattern on the upper back may be the remnants of a fine cloth wrapped around the figure, a feature of Egyptian bronzes found in temple caches (1).

Osiris was one of the most popular gods of the Egyptian pantheon. Early in Egyptian history he represented a chthonic fertility god that later acquired the royal insignia of the crook and flail. He came to be identified as the ruler of the underworld. The Egyptian ruler, perceived during his lifetime as the incarnation of Horus, became Osiris after death. Over time, Osiris was equated with all deceased individuals and became a symbol of resurrection. The major cult shrine of Osiris was at Abydos in Middle Egypt, where Seti I (c. 1294-1279 BCE) built a magnificent temple in Dynasty 19.

Small bronze figurines representing Osiris show the god wrapped in a form-fitting garment, perhaps denoting a mummified shroud, and carrying the symbols of rulership—the crook and flail—in each hand. Enveloped in his shroud, Osiris’ arms are bound close to his body and his feet and legs stand together. The god is usually depicted wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt, ornamented with a uraeus (cobra) on the front and sometimes flanked by two feathers (the atef crown). In addition, this crown can rest on a set of spiraling ram’s horns that project to either side.

The bronze figurines take two basic forms: seated or standing. Within each group, several subgroups can be distinguished according to the placement of the hands. The hands can be side-by-side without overlapping, the proper right hand above the left in a vertical alignment, or crossed over one another at the wrists. G. Roeder associates the different poses to geographical areas within Egypt: those with hands side-by-side in Middle Egypt, those with hands one above the other in Lower Egypt, and those with the hands crossed over one another in Upper Egypt (2). The position of the hands also appears to correlate with other broad stylistic features. For example, the ridge created by the shroud pulled around the shoulders occurs primarily on figurines in which the hands are arranged one above the other.

NOTES:

1. For example, see S. Davies, “Bronzes from the Sacred Animal Necropolis at North Saqqara,” in Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples, eds. M. Hill and D. Schorsch, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2007) 174-87, esp. 179-80, figs. 76-77.

2. G. Roeder, Ägyptische Bronzewerke, Pelizaeus-Museum zu Hildesheim, Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichung 3 (Hamburg, 1937) 89; and id., Ägyptische Bronzefiguren, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Mitteilungen aus der Ägyptischen Sammlung 6 (Berlin, 1956) 133. See also M. Wuttmann, L. Coulon, and F. Gombert, “An Assemblage of Bronze Statuettes in a Cult Context: The Temple of ‘Ayn Manâwir,” in Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples, eds. M. Hill and D. Schorsch, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2007) 167-73, esp. 169-70.


Marian Feldman

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu