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Lot Essay
Hollow cast around a now-missing core, this Osiris belongs to a group of large figures once with inlays in glass paste. Featuring wide bodies with narrow enshrouded arms crossed right over left, the hands holding a crook and flail once adorned with inlays, these figures are recognizable by the mask-like face with a slight smile, elongated eyebrows and cosmetic stripes, also once inlaid. A similar example in Berlin was grouped together by Roeder with five others as deriving from Medinet Habu, in western Thebes, the temple complex founded by Ramesses III that continued in importance as a cult place of Amun-re and the burial place of several God’s Wives of Amun (G. Roeder, Ägyptische Bronzefiguren, p. 193, pl. 27 a-d).
Based on these parallels, this piece would have worn the tall white crown of Upper Egypt, most likely with mortises for attaching separately-cast feathers. A squared mortise at the base of the chin allowed for the attachment of a separately-made beard, as on most examples. The channel for the chinstrap would have been inlaid. Colorful glass paste inlays in blue, white, and red are preserved in some examples, while some had elaborate inlaid and gilt broad collars (see Roeder, op. cit., p. 151). For two additional fragmentary examples attributed by Roeder to the Medinet Habu foundry, see one now in Basel at the Museum für Völkerkunde (G. Roeder, Ägyptische Bronzewerke, p. 174, pl. 42 a,b) and another in Cairo (G. Daressy, Statues de Divinités, p. 81, pl. XVII).
Many similar figures have been dated to the Saite period (see the example in Leiden, acc. no. AB 161, in M. Hill, ed., Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples, pp. 128-129). A large number of Osiris statuettes were excavated at Medinet Habu near the Eastern Gate, and it has been speculated that many were deposited into a mass “Osiris Grave” symbolizing the death and rebirth of the god (p. 65, E. Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt).
Based on these parallels, this piece would have worn the tall white crown of Upper Egypt, most likely with mortises for attaching separately-cast feathers. A squared mortise at the base of the chin allowed for the attachment of a separately-made beard, as on most examples. The channel for the chinstrap would have been inlaid. Colorful glass paste inlays in blue, white, and red are preserved in some examples, while some had elaborate inlaid and gilt broad collars (see Roeder, op. cit., p. 151). For two additional fragmentary examples attributed by Roeder to the Medinet Habu foundry, see one now in Basel at the Museum für Völkerkunde (G. Roeder, Ägyptische Bronzewerke, p. 174, pl. 42 a,b) and another in Cairo (G. Daressy, Statues de Divinités, p. 81, pl. XVII).
Many similar figures have been dated to the Saite period (see the example in Leiden, acc. no. AB 161, in M. Hill, ed., Gifts for the Gods: Images from Egyptian Temples, pp. 128-129). A large number of Osiris statuettes were excavated at Medinet Habu near the Eastern Gate, and it has been speculated that many were deposited into a mass “Osiris Grave” symbolizing the death and rebirth of the god (p. 65, E. Teeter, Religion and Ritual in Ancient Egypt).