The Curious Case of a Ptah-Sokar Osiris Figure and a Goddess

 At the Fourth International Congress of Egyptology, which was held in Munich in 1985, Kate Bosse-Griffiths presented a paper on the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures in the Swansea Wellcome Collection (now the Egypt Centre). This paper was published posthumously in a volume edited by her husband Gwyn Griffiths in 2001. In this paper, Kate highlighted the back panel of a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure (W2051), which was apparently found with an extraordinary figure of a goddess made entirely of linen (W2051a). She noted that both were broken in the same place, just below the knee area. But do these objects really belong together? 

W2051 is a thin fragment of wood, which measures 409mm in its height, 134mm wide, and 25mm thick. The back is plastered and painted with a black background and a dark blue wig. Directly below the wig is an inscription consisting of two columns of black painted hieroglyphs, which are added on a cream background. The inside has been hollowed out to produce a cavity in the trunk, which follows the mummiform-shaped contour of the figure. Four rectangular and one circular mortices have been manufactured along the border of the panel, which would have been joined with tenons on the missing front side (fig. 1). As noted previously, the lowest portion of the panel is now missing. The object can be classified as Type IVF, defined by Raven in his study on Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures (1979, 268).

Fig. 1: Ptah-Sokar-Osiris case (W2051)

The inscription on the back of W2051 is a particular type of text known as the Atum hymn (fig. 2). First published by Budge (1925, 53), the hymn was analysed by Raven (1979, 54) and more recently Rindi Nuzzolo (2017, 461–462). The text, which is to be read from right to left, reads as follows:

(1) ḏd mdw i͗n wsi͗r ḫnty-i͗mntt nṯr ꜥꜣ nb ꜣbḏw skr-wsi͗r ḥry-i͗b i͗pw ꜣst wrt [...]

(1) Words spoken by Osiris, Foremost of the West, the Great God, Lord of Abydos, Sokar-Osiris, who resides in Akhmim, Isis the Great [...].

(2) i͗nḏ ḥr.k i͗wꜥw pr m nṯr pn nḫḫ pr m tm ḏt nṯr i͗i͗ [...]

(2) Greetings to you, heir who originated from this god, spittle that originated from Atum, divine body that returns [...].

Fig. 2: Hieroglyphs on W2051

A recent article by Rindi Nuzzolo (2014) published two Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures from Akhmim, which represent very close parallels to W2051. The first is also a back panel of a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure now housed in the Budapest Museum of Fine Arts (inv. no. 51.244), while the second is in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (inv. no. D96/1982). The latter object, which belonged to a man called Hor, is particularly significant as it is complete. The front of the figure is completely gilded in thin gold leaf, with the exception of the wig and horns. It is likely that W2051 also had a front panel that was gilded just like that in Melbourne, and it is even possible that they were produced in the same workshop at Akhmim (fig. 3).

Fig. 3: Comparison between the Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure in Melbourne (left & centre) and the Egypt Centre (right). Rindi Nuzzolo 2014, fig. 16.

W2051a is a figure of a woman standing 315mm high, 82mm wide, and 57mm in its depth. It appears to be made entirely of linen, which is covered in a thick layer of painted gesso. The arms are pendant by her side and there is a hole in the top of the head for the attachment of a headdress. Her skin is painted yellow, the hair a dark blue to resemble lapis lazuli, and she wears a long green dress (fig. 4). There can be little doubt that she represents a goddess, perhaps Isis or Nephthys. Bosse-Griffiths called the figure “remarkable”, a view that has been expressed by other scholars who have visited the Egypt Centre over the years.

Fig. 4: Figure of a goddess (W2051a)

The mummiform-shaped cavity of W2051 indicates that the object originally held a figure. This was common of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures, which often contained a concealed cavity such as a corn mummy. But did W2051a really belong with W2051 as was proposed by Kate Bosse-Griffiths? Before discussing this, it is important to review her comments on this. Bosse-Griffiths wrote that “fitting neatly the cavity is not a mummy, but the fully clad figure of a woman” (2021, 184). She also described it as “a female figure lying in a coffin like Snow-White”, proposing that it was a representation of the goddess Nut (2021, 185). The fact that both objects were broken roughly in the same place seemed to throw weight behind the proposal that they belonged together. However, a closer examination of both objects reveals that the goddess does not fit neatly into the cavity as had previously been suggested. Instead, the figure slightly covers the border of the back panel, thus making it clear that it would have been impossible for such a large figure to be concealed within.

Documentation associated with the two objects further confirms that W2051 and W2051a were not originally connected. Before conservation at Cardiff University in 1989, W2051 had a circular serrated label with the number 1091 written on it. This label type appears to be a numbering system used by the Assyriologist William St. Chad Boscawen (1855–1913) to catalogue objects purchased by Sir Henry Wellcome in 1907 from the collection of Robert de Rustafjaell. The unpublished catalogues of Boscawen’s inventory of Egyptian items purchased/received by Wellcome between 1906–1912 have recently been rediscovered in archives of the Petrie Museum. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, it has not been possible to consult these, but eventually it should be possible to ascertain the lot number from the sale. W2051a, on the other hand, was purchased by Wellcome in 1931 from Foster’s dealer and auctioneers. Lot 175, which is described as “an Ancient Egyptian stuffed doll, another, in clay, and a pair of ancient sandals, in painted wood” was purchased for £2/10s. Thus, both objects entered the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum twenty-four years apart before eventually arriving to Swansea in 1971. It is possible that in the intervening years the objects were grouped together in one box, which led Kate Bosse-Griffiths to mistakenly believe that they belonged together!

Bibliography:

Bosse-Griffiths, Kate 2001. Problems with Ptaḥ-Sokar-Osiris figures: presented to the 4th International Congress of Egyptology, Munich, 1985. In Bosse-Griffiths, Kate, Amarna studies and other selected papers, 181–188. Freiburg (Schweiz); Göttingen: Universitätsverlag; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

Budge, E. A. Wallis 1925. The mummy: a handbook of Egyptian funerary archaeology, 2nd, revised and greatly enlarged ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Horry, Ruth 2015. Assyriology at the margins, the case of William St. Chad Boscawen (1855–1913). Iraq 77/1, 107–128.

Raven, Maarten J. 1978–1979. Papyrus-sheaths and Ptah-Sokar-Osiris statues. Oudheidkundige mededelingen uit het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden 59–60, 251–296.

Raven, Maarten J. 1984. Papyrus-sheaths and Ptah-Sokar-Osiris statues [+ corrigenda]. In Symbols of resurrection: three studies in ancient Egyptian iconography / Symbolen van opstanding: drie studies op het gebied van Oud-Egyptische iconografie, 251–296, xi. Leiden: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.

Rindi Nuzzolo, Carlo 2014. Two Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures from Akhmim in the Egyptian collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 119, 13–41.

Rindi Nuzzolo, Carlo 2017. Tradition and transformation: retracing Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figures from Akhmim in museums and private collections. In Gillen, Todd (ed.), (Re)productive traditions in ancient Egypt: proceedings of the conference held at the University of Liège, 6th–8th February 2013, 445–474. Liège: Presses universitaires de Liège.