Funerary Figure of Imsety

Funerary Figure of Imsety

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This human-headed figure represents the god Imsety, who protected the liver. He is one of the four so-called sons of Horus that are often depicted as mummies, each with a different head (for the other three statuettes belonging to the same set, see 12.182.37a, c-d). The sons of Horus were deities who protected the internal organs and are probably best known from their representations on the lids of the canopic jars that contained mummified viscera. They were also thought to assist in the process of mummification and to provide nourishment, possibly because they were associated with the internal organs. Thus they had a general protective function for the deceased. Imsety is wearing a broad collar with falcon head terminals, and a small heart amulet is depicted at the center of his chest. In addition a pectoral (a large pendant that is usually placed on the chest) is suspended from his neck, but depicted lower than usual, in the area above his knees. It features the depiction of a sun disk on a bark and is thus connected to the hope that the deceased would be reborn with the sun every morning.

Egyptian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.