Egyptian sculpture

LATE PERIOD 163

Christianity; bronze statuettes of the god become common in the XXVIth dynasty. He is represented nude, wearing the “Jock of youth,”’ and either sucking his finger or raising it to his mouth (Pl. XLV. 4). The type varies very little, though the artistic merit depends upon the individual sculptor. The statue of Isis holding a figure of Osiris, now in the British Museum, is a good example of the conventional statues of gods of this period; it is probably later than the XXVIth dynasty. The goddess is winged, the wings attached, as is customary, to the lower side of the arm and stretching a considerable distance beyond the hand. This figure should be compared with the winged goddesses on the sarcophagus of Horemheb, and with the winged figures on the shrine of Tutankhamen. In the earlier forms of winged figures one arm is raised and the other is lowered, or both arms are spread wide, as on the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen; in the late winged figures both arms are lowered, as in this example. The figure of Isis shows the usual faults of the period, the face is expressionless, without any attempt at representing the muscular or bony structure beneath; the body is merely smoothly rounded, and the extremities also are entirely conventional. The head-dress is the circular crown of uraei, from which rise the disk and horns, the characteristic insignia of the goddess; she also wears the uraeus on the brow. The figure of Osiris, being purely conventional, calls for no comment. The style and the workmanship are even worse than those of the XXVIth dynasty, the stone between the two horns is left, although the support up the back would have been sufficient to prevent their breaking away; but even worse is the piece of stone which is left between the head of the Osiris figure and the body of the supporting goddess. Compare this inartistic labour-saving device with the work of the XVIIIth