LOT 0015

Very Large Egyptian Wooden Head of Osiris

30TH DYNASTY-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 380-30 B.C.

20 3/4 in. (3.62 kg total, 52.5 cm high including stand).

Carved in the round head with plaster prepared surface; with integral Atef crown ornamented with lateral bronze ostrich plumes and uraeus to the brow; carved facial detailing with broad nose and small mouth; applied bronze braided beard with scrolled tip; ears pierced to accept earrings; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Acquired by the family from an antiquities dealer in Egypt, October 1982.
Ex Dunkirk Manor, Theescombe, Stroud.
Mr F.D. collection, acquired from the above.

Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12513-231999.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Cf. similar head in the Brooklyn Museum under accession no.58.94, lacking the bronze fittings; another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art under accession no. 1972.118.195, in dense stone (greywacke) and lacking the lateral feather ornaments; cf. Bonhams, 25 April 2012, no.121, for similar.

This head likely originates from a large-scale standing figure of the underworld god Osiris. In contrast to the ubiquitous small bronze Osiris figurines found at cult sites throughout Egypt – which were left by pilgrims as votive offerings – large-scale wooden statues are much rarer. Their scarcity is partly due to the fragile nature of wood, which made such statues more susceptible to decay over time, but also because these larger figures were used in more specialised and exclusive ritual contexts. This is evidenced by the significant discovery of a large wooden Osiris statue in a cache of votive objects at Saqqara, associated with a temple shrine. The find suggests that the sizeable image of Osiris played an important role in religious ceremonies in the temple, where it presumably served as the focus of veneration. The Saqqara cache dates no later than the reign of Nectanebo II (360-343 B.C.), whose temple pavement covered it. However, the exact dating of the wooden statue is less certain, with estimates ranging from the New Kingdom to the 26th Dynasty.