Egyptian Wood Ptah Sokar Osiris Falcon Head

Egypt, Late Dynastic to Ptolemaic periods, ca. 664 to 30 BCE. An attractive, hand-carved wooden artifact from a culture whose enigmatic funerary rituals hint at a truly lost way of life, this is a painted wooden statue depicting Ptah-Sokar-Osiris in his falcon-headed form, standing in mummiform with fused legs. The 'wings' are held together in front of the tall chest beneath a serrated wesekh-collar, and the entire figure boasts rich red, orange, turquoise, and blue painted 'feathers' atop white gesso. The avian head features hemispherical eyes, a petite aquiline beak, and blue-painted cheeks atop a layer of fine gilding, all beneath a simple tripartite wig with lengthy lapels. Size: 2.6" W x 15" H (6.6 cm x 38.1 cm); 15.125" H (38.4 cm) on included custom stand.

Ptah Sokar Osiris is one of the most complicated concepts of Egyptian mythology. The figure shown here represents the god's three parts: Ptah, the creator god of Memphis; Sokar, the patron of the Memphite necropolis; and Osiris, the god of the afterlife and lord of the underworld. All three are depicted in mummy forms; Osiris and Ptah as men, and Sokar as a falcon. Osiris is no longer present in this example but would have been kept as a mummy - made of vegetable matter - inside the original coffin-like box. Together, they tell a story of birth, death, and resurrection.

These figures became popular after ca. 1000 BCE and are associated with elite burials. In each, the god stands atop a box with a simple lid; a linen-wrapped mummy made of vegetable matter would be placed into the hollow box to represent rebirth in the afterlife (the earliest examples instead had funerary papyri placed inside of them). This "mummy" was a substitute image of the deceased, and when it sprouted, it would symbolize rebirth. The entire artifact, as this one is, would be painted with rich colors, and decorated with hieroglyphics. Items like these were almost certainly made by priests as part of the funerary ritual. This figure represents the complex religious iconography of ancient Egypt and serves as a good example that this religion and culture was not unchanging over the vast time period that it lasted; instead, new practices and gods arose over time.

For a stylistically similar example, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 2018.628a-c

Another stylistically similar example, of a larger size and with a human-form head, hammered for $40,000 at Christie's, New York "Antiquities" auction (sale 2709, June 6, 2013, lot 676).

Provenance: private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, acquired in February 2009; ex-Tom Cederlind collection, Portland, Oregon, USA

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#149647
Condition Report: Minor repairs to areas of painted gesso, with chips and light adhesive residue along break lines. Losses to areas of feet, legs, and painted gesso as shown. Abrasions and nicks to top of head, face, body, legs, and feet, with light fading to original pigmentation, and light encrustations. Great traces of original pigment throughout, and nice craquelure to gilding on face.