AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE OSIRIS AMULET LATE PERIOD TO PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C. Solid cast, depicted mummiform against a back pillar, his fisted hands emerging from his vestment, holding a crook and a flail, wearing a plaited false beard and a plumed atef-crown fronted by a uraeus, on a low integral plinth, a suspension loop on the proper right side of the plinth and between the shoulders on the reverse 7.7 cm high. This piece comes with a custom made stand. Condition: Good condition with dark green encrustation Provenance: Old Private collection France. built up Egyptology collection between 1975 and 1990. Background: Originally, the figure of Osiris was linked to the fecundity of the Egyptian soil, the renewal of vegetation and the world of shepherds, as evidenced by the heka sceptre (which reproduces the shepherds’ crook). He embodied the fertile land and the arable fields, and therefore became the guardian of the order of the universe and the cycles of nature. But the most famous myth concerning him is the one in connection with his death, known through many versions: the son of Geb (the earth) and Nut (the sky) and the husband of Isis, the god primarily was a pharaoh. With Isis, they were a pair of royal benefactors who taught mankind farming and fishing (Osiris), weaving and medicine (Isis). Jealous of the sovereign, his brother Seth assassinated him, cut up his body and disposed of the pieces in the Nile. However, Isis, his wife and faithful widow, found and reassembled the body of her husband and, with the help of her sister, Nephtys, and of Anubis, she embalmed the corpse. After breathing life into him for a short instant, Isis was impregnated by Osiris: this union resulted in the birth of Horus, who, following in the footsteps of his father, became Pharaoh. And so, after having survived the ordeal of death, Osiris triumphed thanks to the magic of his wife and became the ruler of the underworld. He represented the seeds of life and, at the same time, was the protector of the deceased, to whom he would promise life after death. These two closely related characteristics linking the god of fecundity and the funerary divinity were certainly the basis for the success Osiris enjoyed in the Egyptian world: from the New Kingdom on, and especially during the entire 1st Millennium BC, statuettes of Osiris were among the most important funerary offerings. The technique of lost wax casting is a sculptural procedure using a mould made from a prototype of the piece to be worked, and this prototype is usually made from beeswax. This is covered with a thick layer of soft material, usually clay, which then solidifies. Once this has hardened it is put in a kiln where the wax inside melts and leaks out through expressly made holes in the clay. In its place molten metal is injected and this takes on the exact form of the mould. To release the final piece the mould must be removed. Will be shipped registered and insured. I combine shipping. See also my other auctions. I only ship in EU. When you bid make sure you have a shipping adress in EU. The supplier warrants that they obtained this lot in a legal manner. The seller guarantees that they are entitled to sell/export this lot. The seller will take care that any necessary permits, like an export license, will be arranged. The seller will inform the buyer about the status of the permits if this takes more than a few days.