Egyptian Bronze Standing Osiris, ex-Royal Athena

Egypt, Late Dynastic to Ptolemaic period, ca. 664 to 30 BCE. A beautiful cast-bronze figure of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the underworld, standing in mummiform with fused legs atop an integral rectangular plinth. He holds his signature flagellum and short-handled heka scepter (perhaps indicating Thebes as the figure's place of origin) in offset arms held atop the chest, and has sloping shoulders which trace down to bent elbows. His serene countenance is defined by a broad nose with flared nostrils, full lips, smooth cheeks, a plaited false beard, and cupped ears, with thin brows surmounting the bulging ovoid eyes. The head is topped with an Atef crown replete with a pair of broad ostrich feathers indicative of the Cult of Osiris, a pair of spiraling horizontal ram horns, and a frontal uraeus cobra. Lustrous green and brown patina covers the entire composition. Size: 2.5" W x 6.8" H (6.4 cm x 17.3 cm); 8.1" H (20.6 cm) on included custom stand.

Published in: Eisenberg, Jerome. "Art of the Ancient World." Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 2012, no. 184.

For a stylistically similar example of a larger size, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 61.45.

Another stylistically similar example, of a larger size and with silvered eyes, hammered for $20,315 at Christie's, New York "Antiquities" auction (sale 1244, June 11, 2003, lot 28).

Provenance: ex-private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private Lequeu collection, acquired in Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century

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#149898
Condition Report: Areas of minor restoration to tips of ostrich feathers and ram horns on Atef crown, with resurfacing and overpainting along new material. Possible repatination to body and legs. Minor abrasions to legs, body, head, and crown, with light softening to some finer details, and minor encrustations. Wonderful green and brown patina throughout.