Superb Bronze Osiris Holding Crook and Flail

$5,750.00

Circa 775-653 BC

(Rare Kushite Type)
Late Period finely modeled cast bronze figure of Osiris in typical mummiform pose with distinctive Kushite proportions and style. His face is exceptionally well articulated with finely modeled eyes, eyebrows, cosmetic lines, broad nose and full closed lips. He wears the divine beard braided into a curl at the bottom and held to his face with a strap on either side. The deity is swathed in a tight-fitting shroud with wide furled sleeves, and he is adorned with the atef crown (the feathers now broken away at the top) and broad elaborate collar. He holds the customary implements, the crook in the right hand and flail in the left. The reverse of the figure bears an incised collar with tie and tassels at the nape of the neck. Integral square base with tenon below.

Custom wood tiered stand. The term “Kush” was used during the Middle Kingdom to identify the lower territories of Nubia. The Kushites were heavily influenced by the neighboring Egyptians, borrowing political and religious practices, and heavily calling upon their architecture and funerary practices, as can be seen in this example. However, the Kushites’ Nubian roots were always apparent as the two cultures blended.

Height: 4.1 in. (10.5 cm)

Condition: Condition: Both ostrich feathers on atef crown broken at top. Very nice patina with crisp detail

Provenance: Formerly in a private Florida collection acquired at auction 28 November 1990. Also ex: Sotheby’s New York.

Reference: See STEINDORFF pl. LXVI and LXVII for several examples of this popular representation of Osiris in bronze amulets in hard stone such as diorite are much less common than their more typical faience counterparts.

Price: $5,500.

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