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ARCHAEOLOGICAL OBJECT - EGYPT - LATE PERIOD 26th TO 30th DYNASTY, CIRCA 664-332 BC - Bronze figure of Osiris
weight circa 328gr. ; height 13,00 cm (placed on wooden base of 4,80cm) The mummiform figure holding the crook and flail and wearing the atef-crown and frontal uraeus.
This magnificent bronze votive sculpture represents Osiris, god of fertility, king of the dead, and ruler of eternity. Many centuries ago, it might have been found inside a temple, placed as an offering to the mighty deity. He is depicted wrapped as a mummy, holding a crook and flail. These two attributes act as scepters symbolic of his divine authority over the forces of nature. He wears the double plume headdress and a false braided beard with a curved tip. This type of beard is a symbol of divinity while the headdress associates the god with the ruling pharaohs. The legend of Osiris states that his brother Seth, overcome by jealousy, murdered him and tore his body into fourteen parts, scattering them across Egypt. Isis, the faithful wife of Osiris, traversed the land and gathered all the parts of his body. She then cast a spell that resurrected her deceased husband for one night, during which their child, Horus, was conceived. Thus, Osiris was the central figure of Egyptian religion, the god who had triumphed over death and therefore offered the hope of rebirth and resurrection to all men. This striking image of the god in his royal mummiform speaks of a universal mystery, the unanswered questions for which no living man has a sure answer.
Provenance: French private collection, acquired in the 1970′s on the Paris art market. Wonderful piece of art, with an attractive dark brown patina. intakt |
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL OBJECT - EGYPT - LATE PERIOD 28th TO 31th DYNASTY / GREACO-ROMAN PERIOD, CIRCA 404-200 BC - Large amulet of Imset
Made of faience with Turkish blue glaze; height 65mm. - weight 8,02gr.
In Egyptian mythology, Imset (also transcribed Imseti, Amset, Amsety, Mesti, and Mesta) is a funerary deity, one of the Four sons of Horus, who are associated with the canopic jars, specifically the one that contained the liver. Because the Egyptians saw the liver as the seat of human emotion, the depiction of Imset was, unlike his brothers, not associated with any animal but always depicted as a mummified human. Isis is considered his protector, and is himself considered patron of the direction of the south. In ancient Egypt, the liver was thought to be the seat of emotion. A broken heart or death due to excess of emotions was associated with the deity. Thus the name of this deity became "The kindly one", which is "Imset" in ancient Egyptian.
provenance: old German private collection intact |
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