Michael C. Carlos Museum: Permanent Collection: Ancient Egyptian Art

Permanent Collection:
Ancient Egyptian Art:
Triad

Egypt. Granite. Ramesside Period, 1293-1070 B.C. Lent by the Semitic Museum, Harvard University. L1999.25.1

This sculpture shows the enthroned figures of three deities. In spite of the unfinished state of the statue, the deities may be identified by their distinctive crowns and attributes. The goddess Isis sits on the left, wearing a low platform-crown topped with a sun-disk and cow horns. Her husband, Osiris, is in the center. As the god of the Underworld, Osiris is typically depicted as a mummified man, shown here with his limbs enclosed in the mummy-bandages. On the right is Horus, the falcon-headed son of Isis and Osiris.

Since the statue is neither finished nor inscribed it is unclear where it would have been placed and what its purpose would have been. It is possible that it was intended as a votive statue to be dedicated in the cult center of Osiris at Abydos.

The exhibition of this object is made possible by the Museum Loan Network - a national collection-sharing program funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, and administered by MIT's Office of the Arts.