Figure of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This mummiform figure represents the funerary deity Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. On his head are two ostrich plumes flanking a sun disk, and two ram's horns. The inscription down the center of the body tells us the figure was made for a priest of Osiris whose name is unfortunately effaced. The inscription continues on the back, where the name of the owner's father, a High Priest of Horus of Edfu named Padia-abehdet, is preserved. The pedestal on which the figure stands is partially hollow, and contains a linen-wrapped object that might be a roll of papyrus inscribed with spells to assist the owner in his afterlife, or alternatively a mummified animal. On the lid that covers the opening into the base is the protective deity Sopdu in the form of a mummified hawk.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art