Dating from the 1st century before Christ, this bronze work depicts the god Horus.
Horus is one of the most ancient deities of the Egyptian pantheon. He was considered the protector of the monarchysince the early dynasties. This god was represented either as a hawk, or, as in this statuette, as a falcon-headed manwith the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt on his head. Horus is also represented as the god of the sky, shaped as a falcon, whose eyes are the sun and the moon.
Horus is the son of Isis and Osiris, and he was given the throne of the living world as heir of Osiris. Osiris was murdered and dismembered by the God Seth out of Jealousy. Horus later sought revenge for his father’s life. Thus, the Pharaoh,as a “living Horus on earth, ” is considered the earthly manifestation of Horus.
The statuette, which has a hollow space, was used as a funerary urn for the mummy of a falcon, and was possiblyplaced in one of the cemeteries dedicated to the god. The most important and largest hawk cemetery was located inNorth Saqqara, this cemetery housed hundreds of thousands of mummified falcons.
State of Preservation:
The surfaces are corroded and several portions are encrusted with corrosive salt bi-products. It is possible that in the past this piece was poorly restored using a solvent that was too strong. There is a fissure in the back of the statuette. The work requires cleaning and elimination of the corrosive salt bi-product, cleaning of all the surfaces dehydration, stabilization of the residual products of corrosion, consolidation of the fractures, protective varnish application, creation of a support to display the piece and photographic documentation.