Ram with lotus-shaped manger
Roman Period
Not on view
This charming ram, with its almost prehensile muzzle, feeds from a lotus-form trough. The traditional Egyptian gods Amun or Khnum were identified with curly-horned rams, but by this time several other divinities were as well. In terracotta statuettes and on coins Harpokrates can be seen riding a ram or sitting upon a lotus flower, the latter symbolic of rebirth. Perhaps this faience composition alludes to Harpokrates, who was an immensely popular god of fecundity and rebirth during the Roman era.
With the masks 26.7.1020-.1021, the ram is said to have been part of a find of numerous faience objects at Arsinoe, capital of the Fayum region.
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