Isis nursing Horus in the marshes depicted on a fragment from a box lid or menat counterpoise
The fragment depicts the goddess Isis nursing her infant son Horus concealed in the tall papyrus marshes. There she is hiding the baby from his uncle Seth who wants to kill Horus because he is Osiris's heir, just as Seth had killed Osiris.
Images of Isis nursing Horus in the marshes or of a falcon in the marshes (as 08.202.15), are newly prominent in the Third Intermediate Period, part of the exploration and elaboration of Delta mythologies at this time, especially those around goddesses and their sons. The marshes were repeatedly evoked on small objects and talismans as a magical space where mythic moments are set in an idyllic surrounding.
Isis wears a crown with a disk and horns, and both she and infant Horus, who gazes upward at his mother, have large uraei on their foreheads. Traces of blue-green glaze remain on the surface of the stone, and darker blue inlay remains in the goddess's hair. Remains of a hole may be noted at the upper break edge.The original object might be the upper part of a menat counterpoise, or possibly the lid of a small cartouche-shaped box.
Images of Isis nursing Horus in the marshes or of a falcon in the marshes (as 08.202.15), are newly prominent in the Third Intermediate Period, part of the exploration and elaboration of Delta mythologies at this time, especially those around goddesses and their sons. The marshes were repeatedly evoked on small objects and talismans as a magical space where mythic moments are set in an idyllic surrounding.
Isis wears a crown with a disk and horns, and both she and infant Horus, who gazes upward at his mother, have large uraei on their foreheads. Traces of blue-green glaze remain on the surface of the stone, and darker blue inlay remains in the goddess's hair. Remains of a hole may be noted at the upper break edge.The original object might be the upper part of a menat counterpoise, or possibly the lid of a small cartouche-shaped box.
Artwork Details
- Title: Isis nursing Horus in the marshes depicted on a fragment from a box lid or menat counterpoise
- Period: Third Intermediate Period
- Dynasty: Dynasty 21–25
- Date: ca. 1070–664 B.C.
- Geography: From Egypt
- Medium: Glazed steatite
- Dimensions: H. 5 × W. 4.5 cm (1 15/16 × 1 3/4 in.)
- Credit Line: Theodore M. Davis Collection, Bequest of Theodore M. Davis, 1915
- Object Number: 30.8.239
- Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art
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