Circa: 750 BC to 30 BC
Dimensions: 13.25" (33.7cm) high
Style: Late Dynastic/Ptolemaic Period
Condition: Extra Fine
The immensely complex systematics of ancient Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife are embodied in this attractive wooden polychrome piece. According to the hieroglyphics, the sculpture is dedicated to a god who went through two major incarnations between the early Old Kingdom and the birth of the New Kingdom. Starting as Seker – literally “cleaning of the mouth” after an ancient rite following decease – his role was to divorce the body from the soul following death, and to ensure the movement of the deceased’s spirit to the hereafter. At this point, he was depicted as possessing avian characteristics, due to the popular conception that the Ba (soul) was prone to fly confusedly above the Ba (body) after death. He lent his name to the necropolis outside Memphis (Saqqara), and was revered throughout this area and ancient Thebes where there was an annual festival in his honour.
Despite his somewhat funereal reputation, he became – through an accidental alliteration of his name (ie. “the decorated one”) the patron god of metalworkers and jewellers. This saw him become allied to Ptah (the god of craft workers), thus being Ptah-Seker for the remainder of the Old Kingdom. In the New Kingdom, however, he was promoted to a higher status – that of Osiris, the god of death. Thus glorified as Ptah-Seker- Osiris, he occupied numerous social and funerary roles, and was worshipped in many different ways for different reasons.