Otter statue

Late Period or Ptolemaic Period

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 134

During the Late Period and Ptolemaic times otters were represented in bronze statuettes such as this one, standing, forepaws raised, atop small bronze boxes. The pose of raised paws signifies the otter's adoration of the sun god when he rises in the morning.

In myth otters were attached to the goddess of Lower Egypt Wadjet, whose cult was centered in Buto, in the northern Delta.

Otter statue, cupreous metal

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