Block Statue of the Scribe of Divine Offerings, Tjaenwaset, son of Harsiese

Block Statue of the Scribe of Divine Offerings, Tjaenwaset, son of Harsiese

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tjaenwaset belonged to an illustrious family of priests and viziers at Thebes: his father Horsiese, grandfather Horkheb, and great-grandfather Horsiese are named on the statue. Tjaenwaset's front panel depicts him worshiping the Osiris fetish. The prominent position of the motif, which more often occurs on the sides of block statues, may be connected with the role of his son, Pediese the donor of the statue, as a priest of Osiris the Coptite who figures in the complex of Osiris shrines attached to Karnak. These shrines played a part in reenactments of Osiris's resurrection at Karnak temple. From the late New Kingdom onward, the cult of Osiris was increasingly intertwined with every aspect of religious practice.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Block Statue of the Scribe of Divine Offerings, Tjaenwaset, son of HarsieseBlock Statue of the Scribe of Divine Offerings, Tjaenwaset, son of HarsieseBlock Statue of the Scribe of Divine Offerings, Tjaenwaset, son of HarsieseBlock Statue of the Scribe of Divine Offerings, Tjaenwaset, son of HarsieseBlock Statue of the Scribe of Divine Offerings, Tjaenwaset, son of Harsiese

The Met collection of ancient Egyptian art consists of approximately 30,000 objects of artistic, historical, and cultural importance, dating from about 300,000 BCE to the 4th century CE. A signifcant percentage of the collection is derived from the Museum's three decades of archaeological work in Egypt, initiated in 1906 in response to increasing interest in the culture of ancient Egypt.