Upper part of a statuette of the Mother of the Apis

Upper part of a statuette of the Mother of the Apis

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Apis bull was associated with the god Osiris and with Ptah, and with royal mythology. Isis, the wife of Osiris, was also mother of his son Horus who became the living king when Osiris became the dead king, symbolizing the chain of Osiris and Horus manifestations of the Egyptian king. In the Apis mythology, Isis was identified with the Mother of Apis. At Saqqara where the living Apis bull was regally housed and cared for, the cow who was his mother was likewise well tended. The Mother of Apis is usually identified by her long cow horns, which differ from that of Apis. Those are missing here, but may have been made in another material as part of a crown with two long feathers and inserted in the top of her uraeus modius. She nurses a child who would be the young Apis/Horus.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Upper part of a statuette of the Mother of the ApisUpper part of a statuette of the Mother of the ApisUpper part of a statuette of the Mother of the ApisUpper part of a statuette of the Mother of the ApisUpper part of a statuette of the Mother of the Apis

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.