A hollow-cast leaded bronze votive statuette of an upright falcon embodying the god Horus, made in Egypt's Late Period, Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, mid 7th to late 6th century BC. The bird wears the double crown of unified Upper and Lower Egypt, a royal cobra (uraeus) at the brow, and an engraved collar amulet, its eyes rimmed in gold-alloy foil and its feathers rendered in fine, characteristically Egyptian detail. An opening beneath the tail, now sealed with bronze, allowed the small, hollow bones, probably of a real falcon, to be deposited inside: hundreds of thousands of such mummified falcons were dedicated in Egyptian temple catacombs as votive prayers to Horus, sky and solar god and the divine pattern for Egyptian kingship, whose falcon form and dual crown together signified rule over the whole of unified Egypt.
Facts
Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectHorus, the falcon-form sky and sun god of ancient Egypt, whose falcon form and double crown embodied divine kingship over unified Upper and Lower Egypt. 2 Devotional FunctionA votive offering: small mummified falcon bones were deposited inside the hollow bronze as a dedication to Horus, one of hundreds of thousands of such offerings buried in Egyptian temple animal catacombs. 1 Medium (class) Physical Form
MediumLeaded bronze with gold-alloy inlay 1 Dimensions37.5 x 9.5 x 24.1 cm (14 3/4 x 3 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.) 1 Custody
Current LocationHarvard Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts (object 1943.1118) 1 Current Custodian Custody HistoryEddé collection, Alexandria, Egypt; sold via J. Hirsch (Ars Classica, Geneva, 1928) to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York; bequeathed to the Fogg Art Museum in 1943. 1 Origins
Date of CreationMid 7th to late 6th century BC, Late Period, Dynasty 26 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThe statuette itself is centuries past any copyright term, but a specific modern photograph of it carries its own separate copyright. This atlas describes and cites the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 1 Connections
Associated With
Horus, Figures This source names Horus directly: "of an upright falcon embodying the god Horus, made in Egypt's Late Period, Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, mid 7th to late 6th century BC."
Source Horus Falcon Wearing Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt with Uraeus, 1943.1118 (Harvard Art Museums)
Depicts
Horus, Deities Source Horus Falcon Wearing Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt with Uraeus, 1943.1118 (Harvard Art Museums)
Originated In
Egypt, Regions Source Horus Falcon Wearing Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt with Uraeus, 1943.1118 (Harvard Art Museums)
Sources
1. Horus Falcon Wearing Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt with Uraeus, 1943.1118 (Harvard Art Museums)
Harvard Art MuseumsOriginated In: Egypt, Stored country property on this entity, cited to this source: EgyptView the Source 2. Horus (World History Encyclopedia)
Joshua J. Mark, World History Encyclopedia, 2016catalogue record, medium/object-type descriptionQuote, catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A hollow-cast leaded bronze votive statuette of an upright falcon embodying the god Horus, made in Egypt's Late Period, Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, mid 7th to late 6th century BC.
Solar deity (Wikipedia)
In Group: Egyptian Solar Deities, the Harvard Art Museums record identifies the falcon figure as Horus wearing the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, a solar sky deityView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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