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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1920.44.305
Title
Rearing Snake on a Coffin
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Coiled Cobra
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture, statuette
Date
mid 7th-late 6th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Africa, Egypt (Ancient)
Period
Late Period, Dynasty 26
Culture
Egyptian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303989

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
3.8 x 2 x 4.6 cm (1 1/2 x 13/16 x 1 13/16 in.)
Technical Details

Technical Observations: All surface detail is obscured by corrosion products. The patina appears as heavy layers of green over a layer of red corrosions products. The top, including most of the snake, is blue.

The snake was modeled directly in wax and attached to the wax model of the base. A hole (8 mm wide) on one side is a casting flaw or a thin area in the casting that has been lost due to corrosion. A patch (1.1 x 1.6 cm) covering most of the back of the base appears to have served as a cover for this opening. The patch is slightly recessed and out-of-plane with the surrounding surface. The single loop at the top of the hollow base is cast integrally with the rest of the bronze. The base has a wall thickness of less than 1 mm. There is little or no core material at the interior.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Miss Elizabeth Gaskell Norton, Boston, MA and Miss Margaret Norton, Cambridge, MA (by 1920), gift; to the Fogg Art Museum, 1920.

Note: The Misses Norton were daughters of Charles Elliot Norton (1827-1908).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of the Misses Norton
Accession Year
1920
Object Number
1920.44.305
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
Snake figurines were often cast on top of small rectangular containers that are reminiscent of coffins for sacred snakes (1). They are, however, too small for an entire animal to be held, and no remains have been discovered in them. It is possible that only the head would have been enshrined. The snake figurine most commonly takes a figure-eight pose with its head resting opposite from its tail, as in 1920.44.287 (2). The head and body markings are rendered by incised lines. This example also has two opposing loops for suspension on the corners of the container. An inscription engraved in two registers on front of the container reads, “Atum give life to X-Osiris, son of Psamtik” (3). The name Psamtik occurs in Dynasty 26, placing this work among the earliest of the Egyptian bronzes in the collection. The god Atum, the creator god of Heliopolis, is associated with serpents (4), and the small bronze may have served an amuletic or votive (5). The protective function of these snake figurines is highlighted in the second Harvard piece, 1920.44.305, where the flared hood of the rearing snake figure signals its venomous nature. A diagonal strut supports the raised head. One suspension loop is preserved on the front right corner.

NOTES:

1. G. Roeder, Ägyptische Bronzefiguren, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Mitteilungen aus der Ägyptischen Sammlung 6 (Berlin, 1956) 385-86. Compare an example published in J. F. Aubert and L. Aubert, eds., Bronzes et or Egyptiens (Paris, 2001) 390, pl. 48 bottom, dated to the Ptolemaic to Roman periods. See J. Thum, Creatures Compartmentalised: Establishing a Typology for the Ancient Egyptian Bronze ‘Reliquaries’ in the British Museum, London (MPhil. thesis, University of Oxford, 2012) for a recent overview of this type of artifact, its context, and its uses.

2. See Thum 2012 (supra 1) 37-38.

3. Inscription translated by J. Baines.

4. K. Myśliwiec, Studien zum Gott Atum 1: Die heiligen Tiere des Atum, Hildesheimer Ägyptologische Beiträge 5 (Hildesheim, 1978).

5. Thum 2012 (supra 1) 91-93.


Marian Feldman

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Related Objects

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