Osiris

Egypt, African

380-330 BCE

  • Titles Osiris (Title)
  • Medium cast bronze
  • Dimensions 4 3/8 × 1 1/2 × 5/8 in. (11.1 × 3.8 × 1.6 cm)
  • Credit Line Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Wilcutt, 1979.291
  • Work Type figure
  • Classification Sculpture
  • On View

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Mask (kpeliye e), Senufo people, Côte d'Ivoire, African, wood
Standing male power figure with bent arms resting on distended abdomen; below abdomen, figure is unarticulated block, partially covered by animal skin and waist ornaments (large bell and metal jangles attached to cord). Animal horn emerges vertically from top of head. Face has slitted, bulbous eyes, broad nose, protruding and slightly upturned open mouth, square beard. Necklace of glass beads, animal teeth, seed pods hangs from neck onto abdomen. Umbilical area has opening where medicinal materials once existed.
Vessel cover dedicated to the river god, Erinle. Such vessels were used to hold "moving water" from rivers or the sea, but not from wells, Every sixteen days the water is renewed together with two stones taken from a river as symbols of Erinle. The stones are also considered analogous to embryos in the womb. Surmounted by a male figure with his arms around a bowl on a potstand, a salamander or other river animal is behind him, and ritual implements surround him.
Stone ushabti figure in the form of a small mummy case with hieroglyphic inscription on the body with text from the Book of the Dead.