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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1919.527
Title
Isis and Horus
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
statuette, sculpture
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/303606

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
11.5 x 3.3 x 4.4 cm (4 1/2 x 1 5/16 x 1 3/4 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 88.18; Sn, 3.15; Pb, 7.43; Zn, 0.028; Fe, 0.01; Ni, 0.03; Ag, 0.05; Sb, 0.14; As, 0.98; Bi, less than 0.025; Co, 0.007; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The patina is brown with raised areas of green. Black, slightly metallic material at the eyes and black paint in splatter marks at the legs, head, and arms lie over corrosion products and are modern. Scratch marks at the front of the legs are related to modern cleaning. The surface is in good condition with only moderate corrosion pitting, mostly in the legs.

The statuette group is a solid cast and was crudely modeled working directly with pieces of wax. There is no evidence of decorative cold working.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Mr. and Mrs. William de Forest Thompson, gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1919.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William de Forest Thomson
Accession Year
1919
Object Number
1919.527
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
During the first millennium BCE and especially in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, the cult of Isis extended throughout the Mediterranean. This simple but elegant figure group displays the most popular representation of the seated goddess holding the reclining infant Horus (Harpokrates) to her breast. The figures of Isis and Harpokrates were probably cast solid separately and then joined together. The nude figure of Harpokrates follows a standard form and includes a side-lock of youth; both arms rest at his sides.

Isis had over time absorbed characteristics of other goddesses. An example here is her headdress, comprising a sun disc set between flaring cow horns (broken on the proper left side), which is typically associated with the goddess Hathor. The uraeus ornamenting the front of her wig signals Isis’ close ties to royalty. In myth, this is affirmed through Isis’ relationship as sister and wife of Osiris, with whom the deceased pharaoh was identified, and as mother of Horus, the divine counterpart of the living pharaoh. Her tight, ankle-length sheath and tripartite wig harken back to traditional pharaonic iconography, as does the positioning of Harpokrates at a right angle to her, which is comparable to an Old Kingdom statue of the Sixth Dynasty pharaoh Pepi II (c. 2300-2206 BCE) seated on his mother’s lap (1). Holding her right hand to her left breast, Isis epitomizes maternal love (2). As her popularity increased during the Late Period onward, Isis acquired universal traits as a mother goddess, and her cult continued perhaps as late as the sixth century CE, when the temple of Isis at Philae was closed by the emperor Justinian (3). The representation of her suckling the infant Horus seen in this statuette may have served as the source for Christian iconography of the Virgin Mary nursing the infant Jesus.

NOTES:

1. In the Brooklyn Museum; see W. Stevenson Smith, The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, 3rd edn. (New Haven, 1998) fig. 142.

2. For a discussion on the increased emphasis of Isis as mother of Horus from the Late Period onward, see M. Hill and D. Schorsch, eds., Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2007) 149-50, no. 57.

3. See J. H. F. Dijkstra, “A Cult of Isis at Philae after Justinian? Reconsidering ‘P. Cair. Masp.’ I 67004,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 146 (2004) 137-54, esp. 151-54.


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