Ptah, inscription obliterated except for the god's name

Ptah, inscription obliterated except for the god's name

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This statuette depicts Ptah, the chief god of Egypt's capital city Memphis and master craftsman of the gods. He is easy to identify by his tight-fitting cap, straight beard (different from the usual curved divine beard on other gods), and enveloping mummiform garment. The garment has a stiff upper edge along the back of the neck, a feature that occurs with some regularity also on Osiris statuettes, but its meaning is unclear. His hands emerge from long vertical slits in the cloak, which are visible on the chest. He also wears a broad collar with a faintly inscribed counterpoise and he carries a scepter. Commonly Ptah holds a scepter that combines the symbols for life (ankh), dominion (was), and stability (djed), but here he holds only the was scepter, hearkening back to earlier representations of the god. The inscription on the base is worn and damaged, although it does preserve the god's name as well as some other signs. Ptah was a benevolent and approachable god, characteristics that may have inspired his devotees to dedicate numerous representations of him in the Late and Ptolemaic Periods.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Ptah, inscription obliterated except for the god's namePtah, inscription obliterated except for the god's namePtah, inscription obliterated except for the god's namePtah, inscription obliterated except for the god's namePtah, inscription obliterated except for the god's name

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.