A BRONZE FIGURE OF THE GODDESS MAAT

Details

A BRONZE FIGURE OF THE GODDESS MAAT
DYNASTY XXI-XXII, CIRCA 1069-715 B.C.
The seated goddess with eyes recessed for inlay, wearing a maat-feather, head-band around her tripartite wig, on an openwork shrine-like support, the front and back decorated with winged cobras worshipping a Hathor head surmounted by a shrine
10 in. (25.4 cm.) high

Exhibited

Le Don du Nil, pp. 88-89, pls. 315a-b, no. 315.

Lot Essay

Maat encompassed all that held the World together in cosmic harmony, including Truth and Justice. She wears an ostrich feather, the feather of Truth, empowering the king to govern, which was weighed against the heart on the death of each person, a 'light' heart allowing the person to pass into the realms of Osiris (Duat). Cf. M. Page-Gasser and A. B. Wiese, Ägypten: Augenblicke der Ewigkeit, Mainz, 1997, p. 212, no. 137 for similar.

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