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Identification and Creation

Object Number
48.1965
Title
Standing Osiris
Other Titles
Former Title: Osiris
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/304412

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Leaded bronze
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
16.5 x 4.8 x 3.8 cm (6 1/2 x 1 7/8 x 1 1/2 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: ICP-MS/AAA data from sample, Leaded Bronze:
Cu, 86.61; Sn, 6.24; Pb, 6.16; Zn, 0.014; Fe, 0.02; Ni, 0.2; Ag, 0.1; Sb, less than 0.02; As, 0.59; Bi, 0.077; Co, less than 0.005; Au, less than 0.01; Cd, less than 0.001

J. Riederer

Technical Observations: The weight of the statuette indicates it is probably a solid cast. The self-base is hollow and contains some soft gray material, which could be core material or dirt. Although the corrosion products obscure some detail, the surface decorations appear to have been made mostly in the wax model. The hole at the top of the feet appears to be a casting flaw rather than related to a mounting pin. The surface is well preserved, with dark green patina. Deep-seated corrosion products are evidence of long-term burial. The bottom of the base has been sanded flat and pins have been added for mounting purposes. New light green corrosion has grown over the modern sanded surface.


Henry Lie (submitted 2001)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Loan from the Collection of Edouard Sandoz
Object Number
48.1965
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 completely preserved statuette is similar to 1955.129, although somewhat less subtle in its modeling. The shroud pulls up in a slight ridge around the back of the shoulders, over which falls the counterpoise of the broad collar. Details of the broad collar, headdress, crook, and flail are rendered by incision. Slits for the arms to emerge from the garment are visible; the hands are arranged one above the other. The atef crown has the projecting ram's horns; a small piece of the proper right side of the ram’s horn is broken, probably not recently in light of the black and green corrosion covering it (1). The numerous marks visible on the face, garment, headdress, and reverse of the headdress may indicate previously unrecorded cleaning to remove accretions.

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. Compare the recently discovered statuette of Osiris wearing an atef crown with ram’s horns from the temple at ‘Ayn Manâwir, occupied from the early fifth to the early fourth centuries BCE in 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. 168-70, fig. 73.

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 Wuttmann, Coulon, and Gombert 2007 (supra 1) 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