Reuniting a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figure?

This past Thursday, as part of an Egypt Centre evening course on the funerary culture of the ancient Egyptians, we examined a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure (W475b) from the collection (fig. 1). The Egypt Centre has seventeen Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures in the collection, in addition to other elements originating from these figures. Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures emerge as a key item of burial equipment during the Nineteenth Dynasty, although they are more common from the Third Intermediate Period through the Graeco-Roman Period. The figures are identified as Osiris in the earlier examples before later representing the composite deity Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. Osiris was the god of the dead and the king of the Netherworld. Ptah was one of the main creator gods of the Egyptian pantheon while Sokar was also associated with the Netherworld. The syncretism of these deities, who are usually shown mummiform, has a deep connection with the deceased and were designed to grant them resurrection.

Fig. 1: Front view of W475b

W395b is a polychrome Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure measuring 36cm in its height (fig. 2). It can be identified as a “Type III” figure following the classification of Maarten Raven (1978–1979). This consists of a mummiform figure wearing a šwty-crown (only the stump remaining on W475b) and without arms or hands. The tripartite wig is blue while the face is green with details in black and white (eyes). The figure has a red headband, which is tied at the rear. There is a simple concentric collar around the shoulders, interrupted by the three lappets of the wig; the collar has concentric stripes (green, blue, and red on a yellow background). The body of the figure is red and is provided with a blue and yellow reticulated pattern imitating a bead net. W475b has a back pillar that forms a continuation of the wig lappet on the shoulders. Between the base and figure is a plinth, which is decorated with a green, yellow, and red rectangle on all four sides. Single vertical columns of hieroglyphs are located on the front and rear of the figure.

Fig. 2: W475b

But what of the base that the figure originally sat inside? Searching through the Egypt Centre catalogue reveals that there is only one base in the collection, W475 (fig. 3). This rectangular base, which contains a continuous inscription on the front, left, and right sides, has two cavities on the top; the one at the rear for the stump of the figure and the one at the front usually reserved for papyrus or a small mummiform figure. To my amazement, when I examined the interior of the front cavity I was able to spot small flakes of inscribed papyrus that were stuck to the bottom! W475 had been previously associated with another Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure, W452, as can be seen in a photo published by Gwyn Griffiths (1996, fig. 5). Yet this association must be rejected for a number of reasons, including the fact that they have two different lot numbers; W465 bears the sticker identifying it as lot 250 whereas W452 is lot 258. No auction details are known for W475b, which allows for the possibility that it originally belonged with the base. In fact, the figure fits perfectly into the cavity of the base, the only one of our Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures to do so. Additionally, the lot label on the top of the base is at an angle that matches perfectly with the outline of the figure. Case solved? Well, not quite!

Fig. 3: W475

The object file for W475 contains a flimsy slip (fig. 4), which accompanied the object when it was were transferred from the Wellcome Institute to Swansea in 1971. These slips are catalogue records of the material purchased by Henry Wellcome, which were compiled by the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum (WHMM) in the first half of the twentieth century. The flimsy for W475, which was given the inventory number 10680, is quite revealing. It describes the object as an “ancient Egyptian carved figure of Saket Ptah”, which was purchased as part of lot 250 from Stevens’ auction house on the 27 September 1908 (if any readers have a copy of this catalogue, I’d be most grateful!). Most importantly, the object is described as 21 inches high by 8 inches wide. Here is where the problem lies. W475 and W75b together only measure 16½ inches in height! Although this would seem to suggest that the two objects do not belong together, we must consider that the figure may have had its crown still present during the cataloguing by the WHMM. However, while the Egypt Centre has nine crowns belonging to Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures in its collection, none of them seem to fit with W475b.

Fig. 4: Flimsy slip for W475

So who does the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure belong to? The inscription on the front of the figure (fig. 5) identifies the owner as a “Mistress of the House” (nbt-pr), the most common title held by women in ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, only the first part of her name is preserved with the ending missing. If any readers have suggestions as to the reconstruction of the name, we would love to hear them! Aside from the owner, her parents are also named; Horbes is her father while Ptahirdis is the name of her mother. Both names are attested during the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-sixth dynasties, when this figure can be dated to. The inscription on the rear of the figure and the one on the base are largely identical and contain an offering formula (ḥtp di nsw) to Re-Horakhty.

Fig. 5: Transcription of the hieroglyphs on the front of W475b

W475b had been on display in the House of Death for the last twenty years while the base had remained in storage. Although it is inconclusive as to whether they belong together, it was decided to put the base on display with the figure (fig. 6).

Fig. 6: W475 & W475b “reunited”?

Bibliography:

Aston, D. (2003) ‘Theban West Bank from the Twenty-fifth Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period’. In The Theban Necropolis: Past, Present and Future, ed. N. C. Strudwick and J. H. Taylor. London: British Museum Press. 138–166.

Aston, D. A. (2009) Burial Assemblages of Dynasty 21–25: Chronology - Typology - Developments. Contributions to the Chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean 21; Denkschriften der Gesamtakademie 54. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. 

Bosse-Griffiths, K. (2001) ‘Problems with Ptaḥ-Sokar-Osiris Figures: Presented to the 4th International Congress of Egyptology, Munich, 1985’. In AmarnaStudies and Other Selected Papers, ed. J. G. Griffiths. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 182. Freiburg; Göttingen: Universitätsverlag; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 181–188.

Griffiths, J. G. (1996) Triads and Trinity. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. 

Raven, M. J. (1978–1979) ‘Papyrus-sheaths andPtah-Sokar-Osiris Statues’. Oudheidkundige mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden 59–60: 251–296.

Rindi, C. (2014) ‘Some Remarks on the Positioning of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figures in Third Intermediate and Late Period Burials’. In Cult and Belief in Ancient Egypt: Proceedings of the Fourth International Congress for Young Egyptologists, 25–27 September 2012, Sofia, ed. T. Lekov and E. Buzov. Sofia: East West. 30–36.

Rindi Nuzzolo, C. (2013) ‘An Unusual Group of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figures: Some Reflections on Typology and Provenance’. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 49: 193–204.

Rindi Nuzzolo, C. (2017) ‘Tradition andTransformation: Retracing Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Figures from Akhmim in Museums andPrivate Collections’. In (Re)productive Traditions in Ancient Egypt: Proceedings of the Conference Held at the University of Liège, 6th–8th February 2013, ed. T. J. Gillen. Aegyptiaca Leodiensia 10. Liège: Presses universitaires de Liège. 445–474.