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Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figure of Pakherenkhonsu

Third Intermediate Period
ca. 721–664 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 126
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figure of Pakherenkhonsu
  • Period: Third Intermediate Period
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 25 (Kushite)
  • Date: ca. 721–664 BCE
  • 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

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Face from Outer Coffin of Pakherenkhonsu, Wood, paint
Face from Outer Coffin of Pakherenkhonsu
ca. 721–664 BCE
Bodhisattva, Probably Amoghapasa Lokeshvara, Wood with traces of gesso and color, Nepal (Kathmandu Valley)
Bodhisattva, Probably Amoghapasa Lokeshvara
Nepal (Kathmandu Valley)
14th–15th century
Outer Coffin of the Chantress of Amun-Re Henettawy, Wood, gesso, paint, varnish
Outer Coffin of the Chantress of Amun-Re Henettawy
ca. 1000–945 BCE
Coffin fragment of Pakherenkhonsu, Wood, paint
Coffin fragment of Pakherenkhonsu
ca. 721–664 BCE
Ibis, Wood, gesso, linen, paint, bronze, glass (eyes)
Ibis
600–30 BCE

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