God Osiris. Ancient Egypt. Late Epoch, 664 - 323 B.C.

God Osiris. Ancient Egypt. Late Epoch, 664 - 323 BC.
Bronze.
Provenance: Private collection, Paris, France.
Good state of preservation. The feet are missing at the ankles.
Measurements: 19,5 cm high; 24,5 cm with stand.

This bronze figure represents the god Osiris, one of the main divinities of the Egyptian pantheon, associated with resurrection, fertility and the afterlife. During the Late Epoch, his cult reached a great diffusion, being usual the production of small votive sculptures destined to funerary or devotional contexts.

The god is represented in mummiform form, with his body wrapped in a shroud and his arms crossed over his chest, holding the characteristic attributes of power: the scepter and the scourge. On his head he wears the atef crown, a distinctive element of his iconography, flanked by lateral feathers.

The surface has a patina with greenish and reddish tones, the result of the natural process of oxidation of bronze over time, which gives depth and aesthetic value to the piece.

This type of figure embodied the promise of regeneration and eternal life, linking the deceased with Osiris himself in his transit to the afterlife. The work thus constitutes a representative testimony of Egyptian religiosity and of the artistic production in small format during Antiquity.