An Egyptian Bronze Fragmentary Status of Isis, Late Period, 26th Dynasty, ca. 664 - 525 BCE

To the Egyptians, Isis was the archetypal mother goddess. She was both a faithful wife and a devoted, loving mother. In this profoundly human bronze, she portrays the mother goddess, shown seated, her right hand offering her suckling breast, wearing an unadorned sheath dress, a tripartite wig with wide striations that was originally inlaid, and a uraeus crown.

Background: One of the most celebrated goddesses in Egyptian mythology, Isis was the daughter of Seb, the earth god, and Nut, the goddess of the heavens. She was also both the wife and the sister of Osiris. Osiris was killed and dismembered by Seth, brother of Isis. In her myths, Isis searches for, retrieves, and miraculously reassembles the body of her dead husband. She then conceives and gives birth to her son Horus. In later Christian times, the image of Isis and the infant Horus became the model for the Madonna and child. 

Medium: Bronze

Dimensions: Height: 2 5/8 inches (6.5 cm)

Condition: Fragmentary as shown, with loss of uraeus to the forehead and loss of inlaid eyes, but despite being incomplete, a very charming example. 

Provenance: The Nourollah Elghanayan Collection of Ancient Art, assembled 1950-1970. Nourollah Elghanayan (1915 - 2009), an Iranian-born businessman from NYC, started buying land in Manhattan in the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on Manhattan property on Second and Third Avenues. His sons turned the holdings into a booming real estate business. Now, the family is worth $1.9 billion and has more than 20 million square feet of residential and commercial holdings to its name, split among two firms.