LOT 0003

Egyptian Wooden Seated Isis

LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 BC

18" (1.8 kg total, 45.5cm including stand).

A wooden figure of the goddess Isis seated on a throne; her right hand holding the breast, the left arm extended; wearing a tight-fitted robe and a bronze Hathor crown in the form of a sun disk between two cow horns; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Property of a lady; acquired from her father Mr Keith Howes, who worked in the Coins and Medals Department at the British Museum for 40 years, and collected antiquities all of his life.

Cf. Harvard Art Museums, accession number 1960.464 for similar.

The goddess Isis is depicted here in position typical of the Late Egyptian period with her hands positioned to accept the infant Horus, who would have sat upon her lap. During the 1st millennium BC, especially in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, the Egyptian cult of Isis spread throughout the Mediterranean world. From the Late Period onward, Isis became more frequently depicted as a mother goddess, highlighted by her maternal position here as she offers forward her breast towards her son. This statue was most likely decorated with gilt and painted features, like the wooden seated Isis figure in the Harvard Art Museums.