Statuette, Osiris

Osiris, foremost of the Egyptian funerary gods and ruler of the underworld, stands upright in a close-fitting mummiform garment. The garment hugs the contours of his arms and buttocks. He holds the royal crook and flail with his hands poised symmetrically. The break at the neck is in fact the place where the head and body from different statues were joined at some point before the statue came to the Museum. The features of the face are rather fine, and point to the first half of the Saite Period.


In general, Osiris statuettes were some of the most abundant temple offerings in Egypt by the first millennium B.C., reflecting both the god’s importance and changing cult practices that spurred the wide-scale dedication of deity statuettes. Many statues of Osiris were offered in temples and shrines belonging to him, but they have also been found in other contexts, for example near temples and shrines honoring other prominent deities or in animal necropoleis.