Egypt, Late Period to Ptolemaic 7th-3rd cent. B.C..Bronze (solid cast). H. 13.9 cm. B. 3.5 cmFlat statuette of the mummy-shaped god of the dead, Osiris, who holds a crook and whip in front of his chest. He wears an atef crown on his head. Osiris is one of the most important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. Statuettes of Osiris were common as burial goods from New Kingdom onwards. In the Third Intermediate Period and the Late Period, statuettes of Osiris, often made of bronze, were donated as votive figures in various temples. They are an expression of the deceased person's hope for regeneration in the hereafter, in analogy to the fate of Osiris. In addition to his role as ruler of the afterlife, Osiris was also a god of fertility and vegetation. Bronze tang on the underside of the foot to affix the statuette to a base. Upper left corner of the crown broken away.Formerly Swiss priv. coll. P. A. N., acquired 1955-1960. Thereafter in the family by descent.