Osiris

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Osiris, foremost of the Egyptian funerary gods and ruler of the underworld, stands upright and wears one of the most elaborate versions of his atef crown, complete with a uraeus on either side of the feathers and ram horns. Further uraei (two pairs) hang beneath the horns on each side. The beard is attached with a chin strap. The god is dressed in a close-fitting enveloping garment that conforms to his arms and shoulders. He holds the royal crook and flail with his hands poised symmetrically with the fists touching. The area around the hands is roughly carved, but the details of the crown, beard, broad collar and streamer, attributes, and bracelets are well defined. Osiris statuettes such as this one were some of the most abundant temple offerings in Egypt by the first millennium B.C., reflecting both the god’s importance and changing cult practices that spurred the wide-scale dedication of deity statuettes. Many statues of Osiris were offered in temples and shrines belonging to him, but they have also been found in other contexts, for example near temples and shrines honoring other prominent deities or in animal necropoleis.

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