Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
Gilded wood figure of the Goddess Isis seated on a throne.

This figure, the Goddess Isis, is crafted in yellow gilt and seated on a simple wooden throne that is backless with a footrest. Her proper right-hand rests on her left breast, and her left arm is extended in front of her. On her head is a large bronze crown of two cow horns cradling a disk, she is wearing a long wig to her breasts, her midriff is bare, and she wears a long, straight skirt. Her features, and especially her eyes, seem to be outlined in a dark pigment.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1960.464
Title
Seated Figure of the Goddess Isis
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
7th-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/219706

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Gilded wood, with bronze crown
Technique
Carved
Dimensions
H. 30 x W. 7.2 x D. 13.5 cm (11 13/16 x 2 13/16 x 5 5/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Maguid Sameda Antiquaire, Cairo, by 1954], sold; to David M. Robinson, Oxford, Mississippi, (1954-1960), bequest; to The Fogg Art Museum.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of David M. Robinson
Accession Year
1960
Object Number
1960.464
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description
Wooden figure of the goddess Isis seated on a throne. The proper right hand holds the breast, the left arm is extended. This pose suggests that Isis was originally suckling a (now lost) infant Horus seated on her lap. The wooden statuette is entirely gilt (gilding partly refreshed in modern times?), with black paint outlining the eyes. Isis wears a Hathor crown of bronze, consisting of a sundisk between two cow horns.

Publication History

  • Fogg Art Museum, The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities, A Special Exhibition, exh. cat., Harvard University (Cambridge, MA, 1961), p. 26, no. 198

Exhibition History

  • The David Moore Robinson Bequest of Classical Art and Antiquities: A Special Exhibition, Fogg Art Museum, 05/01/1961 - 09/20/1961
  • Ancient Egypt, Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, 09/13/2001 - 09/13/2007

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