Osiris offered by the Astronomer of the House of Amun, Ibeb

Osiris offered by the Astronomer of the House of Amun, Ibeb

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This statuette was excavated at Hiba (or Teudjoi), a fortress town south of Herakleopolis, in Middle Egypt, and an important outpost at the northern limits of the Theban controlled part of the country from the late New Kingdom through the Third Intermediate Period. The site has not been thoroughly examined archaeologically, but the Theban High Priests (and sometime kings) seem to have had a residence at El-Hiba, and King Sheshonq I (r. ca. 945-924 B.C.) built a temple of Amun there. The statue is preserved on its original wood base, which bears a hieroglyphic inscription recording the name of the donor: "the Astronomer of the House of Amun Ibeb (Ibi), Son of the Astronomer of the House of Amun Ankhpekhered." The current glossy black surface is an artificial patination applied in the 1930s.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Osiris offered by the Astronomer of the House of Amun, IbebOsiris offered by the Astronomer of the House of Amun, IbebOsiris offered by the Astronomer of the House of Amun, IbebOsiris offered by the Astronomer of the House of Amun, IbebOsiris offered by the Astronomer of the House of Amun, Ibeb

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.