Statuette Of Ptah-sokar-osiris, Egypt, Late Period/ptolemaic Period, 663-31 Bc Stuccoed Wood

Statuette of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, Egypt, Late Period/Ptolemaic Period, 663-31 BC

Stuccoed wood, polychromy

Height: 29.8 cm (32 cm with base)

Expertise: Antonia Eberwein (Egypt-art.com), 2024

Provenance:
- Former collection of “Mme A.”, Paris, France; acquired during the 7th Biennale at the Grand Palais, 1974, from Robert Bellet, Paris. The label will be given to the buyer (photo).
- Giquello sale, Hotel Drouot, March 15, 2024, lot 240, repr. (with incorrect height)
- Acquired from Laurence Lenne, BRAFA, Brussels, January 2025

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Slender mummiform body with hieroglyphic inscriptions on the front and back. The invisible hands and arms are completely wrapped in the shroud. A wide Userkh necklace with several strands of pearls wraps around the shoulders. The face is adorned with a long false beard and framed by a smooth, painted tripartite wig.

The manifestation of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris combines three gods, beings closely linked to the necropolis of Memphis, the first capital of united Egypt. Ptah was the creator god at Memphis, Sokar the Memphite funerary god who gave his name to the modern Saqqara site, and Osiris the supraregional ruler par excellence of eternity and symbol of resurrection. In this form, the statue of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris promises the deceased, named on the front of the statue, a "concentrated" divine assurance of passage into the afterlife.

Comparative literature: M.J. Raven, Papyrus-sheaths and Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Statues, OMRO 59-60 (1978/79)