Fragment of an Egyptian relief with a scene of an offering to the god Osiris. Ancient Egypt, Ptolemaic period, circa 332-30 BC.
Sandstone.
In good condition.
Provenance: English private collection, 1950s / Ars Histórica Archaeological Gallery, Spain, 2014; Exhibited: Ifergan Collection, Málaga (2018-2020).
Similar pieces: The temple of Osiris at Abydos depicts the scene of an offerer performing the same ritual before the god Osiris.
Measurements: 49 x 58 cm.
The relief depicts a pharaoh, as indicated by the lower half of a cartouche preserved in the field in front of his head. This pharaoh is depicted bare-chested. He wears a skirt with a pointed apron, a broad neck, a false beard and an action crown with an uraeus in front. The pharaoh holds a jug in each hand, one with a rounded top and the other with a T-shaped top, from which streams of water flow into a small offering table placed in front of the dais on which a god is enthroned. The two columns of hieroglyphs in front of this pharaoh can be translated into English as "Making a libation of fresh water to his father, the individual who created him; may he be granted eternal life".
It is interesting to note that the hieroglyphs for "his father" are oriented with the seated deity and not with the pharaoh, like the other signs on these two columns. This is a subtle detail that reveals the consummate planning with which the relief was designed.
The enthroned god, facing the pharaoh, is seated on a traditional throne. He wears a belted skirt to which is attached the tail of a bull, which is visible as an incised line parallel to the contour of the leg. This tail gives the god the sexual potency and physical strength of this animal. His other accessories include a wide necklace and a false beard, as well as a crown of Atef. He carries as attributes an Ankh sign, known as "the key of life" or "the cross of life", and a uas/was sceptre. This god is titled by three fragmentary columns of hieroglyphs above his head that preserve fragments of his epithets "the Lord of the king of the god" and "the great (one)".
A goddess, whose facial features are missing, stands behind the god. She wears a tight-fitting sheath and a wide collar and raises one arm in worship while the hand of the other, which hangs next to her body, holds an ankh sign. The single column of hieroglyphs, imperfectly preserved at the end, can nevertheless be translated into English as: 'I grant you everything that comes out of the ocean of heaven'.
The style of the relief decoration, in which the proportions of the figures are slender and somewhat attenuated, as well as the style of the pharaoh's face and beard, suggest a dating to the period between the 1st century BC and the first half of the 1st century AD. The style of the pharaoh depicted is remarkably similar to an image of the Roman Emperor Augustus in the guise of a pharaoh in a corresponding sandstone relief from the temple of Kalabash. These correspondences confirm our proposed dating for this relief.