|
HOME :
Egyptian Antiquities :
Masterpieces of Egyptian Art : Bronze Sculpture Of Osiris
|
 |
|
|
|
Bronze Sculpture Of Osiris - FZ.380
Origin: Egypt
Circa: 700
BC
to 500
BC
Dimensions:
8.125" (20.6cm) high
x 4.25" (10.8cm) wide
Catalogue: V29
Collection: Egyptian
Style: Late Dynastic Period
Medium: Bronze
£125,000.00
Location: UAE
|
|
|
| Description |
|
This exceptionally large and well-preserved
depiction of Osiris, god of the Hereafter, was
hollow cast via the lost wax method and
incrusted with a variety of secondary inlays. The
god is depicted in his traditional, mummiform
pose enveloped in a shroud from which his arms
protrude. These are crossed at the wrists over
his chest, with his hands holding a crook and
flail respectively. These attributes suggest that
the origins of Osiris lay in the agricultural and
pastoral pursuits of the early ancient Egyptians
who used the flail to thresh grain and the crook
to shepherd their flocks. He wears the White
Crown of Upper Egypt which is fronted by a
uraeus, or sacred cobra. These serpents were
believed not to have eye lids and were employed
as eternal, vigilant protectors of gods and kings
because the Egyptians believed that they never
closed their eyes to sleep. Osiris is also shown
wearing a false beard, generally identified as
that of a goat because the ancient Egyptians, like
the Greeks and Romans after them, believe that
the goat was one of the most sexually prolific of
animals. This characteristic enabled Osiris to
know Isis posthumously, fathering their son,
Horus. In like manner, that characteristic enabled
the deceased, identified with Osiris, to be
resurrected in the Hereafter on the model of
human procreation.
The use secondary inlays in this bronze,
particularly striking in the eyes, but also
prominent in the crook and flail and in the sun
disc on the crown, deserve special mention. The
ancient Egyptians believed that the minerals of
the earth were imbued with special properties
and that these properties could be conveyed to
deities when their images were embellished with
inlays. As a result of this conceit, this image of
Osiris was anciently regarded as being
minerally-charged with all of the natural
resources of the earth. When entombed, all of
these powers were brought to bear as well on his
resurrection. The deceased, often identified with
Osiris, would likewise benefit from such powers.
It is on the basis of such Egyptian practices that
Christian reliquaries and covers of books of the
Gospels were similarly encrusted during the
Middle Ages. The practice persists to this day
among certain adherents of New Age
philosophies.
References:
For a comparable, but somewhat smaller figure
of Osiris, likewise incrusted with secondary
inlays, see Werner Kaiser, Ägyptisches Museum
Berlin (Berlin 1967), inventory number 839 on
page 82.
- (FZ.380)
|
| |
|
