Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figure of Pakherenkhonsu
This mummiform statuette is inscribed for "The Osiris (the transformed deceased) of the Doorkeeper of the House of Amun, Pakerenkhonsu, true of voice." Known as a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure, it represents a merging of three gods: Ptah, a creator god and patron of craftsmen; Sokar, a hawk-headed deity conected with the Memphite necropolis; and Osiris, the ruler of the underworld.
Other examples of such figures were hollow, and contained rolled up funerary papyri. This one is solid, as is the rectangular base on which it sits, likely because it dates from a period when papyri were not usually included with burials at Thebes.
The figure is adorned with two ostrich plumes flanking a sun-disk that connects it to the solar cycle. The face is green, a color associated with fertility and new growth. Both the connection with the daily rising and setting of the sun and the link with the yearly agricultural cycle helped to ensure the perpetual rebirth of the deceased.
Other examples of such figures were hollow, and contained rolled up funerary papyri. This one is solid, as is the rectangular base on which it sits, likely because it dates from a period when papyri were not usually included with burials at Thebes.
The figure is adorned with two ostrich plumes flanking a sun-disk that connects it to the solar cycle. The face is green, a color associated with fertility and new growth. Both the connection with the daily rising and setting of the sun and the link with the yearly agricultural cycle helped to ensure the perpetual rebirth of the deceased.
Artwork Details
- Title: Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figure of Pakherenkhonsu
- Period: Third Intermediate Period
- Dynasty: Dynasty 25 (Kushite)
- Date: ca. 750–700 B.C.
- Geography: From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, el-Khokha, Tomb MMA 832 (H 3), Pit 1, Burial of Pakherenkhonsu, MMA excavations, 1914–15
- Medium: Wood, gesso, paint
- Dimensions: H. 44 × W. 9 × D. 22 cm (17 5/16 × 3 9/16 × 8 11/16 in.)
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1928
- Object Number: 28.3.48
- Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art
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