Day 35 - Faience Isis nursing Horus
March 20, 2018
Gallery 134 contains a wealth of objects from the Ptolemaic period. Although a wall placard talks about the infusion of Hellenistic influences into Egyptian art, I have to say that, aside from a small fragment of a marble statuette of a dancing dwarf, its highly muscled torso twisted to the left while he looks over his right shoulde, and a few small pottery heads that look Greek, most of the objects strike me as traditionally Egyptian in their style and in the attire and positions of their human subjects. Such was the power of Egyptian tradition over two millennia.
Continuing with the previous entry's associational kick, today's object is a faience statuette of Isis and Horus, about 6 inches tall. Isis sits on a chair. She wears a tall crown and a long skirt but is nude above the waist. She holds her heavy left breast in her right hand, as if she is about to offer it to Horus. She is smiling softly. Horus sits crosswise on her lap, his head supported by her left hand. To me, he looks too big and too lean to be a baby, but he is clearly a small child.
I think of the many, many enthroned Madonna e Bambinos I've seen, and the many more I will see. And it's impossible not to recognize the theme of the divine mother who gives birth to a divine son, a theme that persists across the ages and across religious traditions. Maternal love is such a powerful force, and the image carries with it the idea of ongoing life and its nurturance.
Another image with similar resonance comes from another part of the Imhotep Book of the Dead scroll. It shows Imhotep's heart being weighed against an ostrich feather that represents justice and correct behavior. If Imhotep has been honest and upright in his actions, his heart will weigh less than the feather, and he has the possibility of entering into eternal life. If his heart isn't lighter than the ostrich feather, however, he will be eaten by a monster and die forever. So here we have ideas that anticipate Christian ideas about salvation and damnation, as well as of salvation by works as well as by faith. I guess thoughts of the afterlife have served to propel and motivate moral behavior for a very long time.
Continuing with the previous entry's associational kick, today's object is a faience statuette of Isis and Horus, about 6 inches tall. Isis sits on a chair. She wears a tall crown and a long skirt but is nude above the waist. She holds her heavy left breast in her right hand, as if she is about to offer it to Horus. She is smiling softly. Horus sits crosswise on her lap, his head supported by her left hand. To me, he looks too big and too lean to be a baby, but he is clearly a small child.
I think of the many, many enthroned Madonna e Bambinos I've seen, and the many more I will see. And it's impossible not to recognize the theme of the divine mother who gives birth to a divine son, a theme that persists across the ages and across religious traditions. Maternal love is such a powerful force, and the image carries with it the idea of ongoing life and its nurturance.
Another image with similar resonance comes from another part of the Imhotep Book of the Dead scroll. It shows Imhotep's heart being weighed against an ostrich feather that represents justice and correct behavior. If Imhotep has been honest and upright in his actions, his heart will weigh less than the feather, and he has the possibility of entering into eternal life. If his heart isn't lighter than the ostrich feather, however, he will be eaten by a monster and die forever. So here we have ideas that anticipate Christian ideas about salvation and damnation, as well as of salvation by works as well as by faith. I guess thoughts of the afterlife have served to propel and motivate moral behavior for a very long time.
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