ORIENTAL
ANTIQUITIES DEPARTMENT |
Painted Wooden Ptah-Sokar-Osiris Statue |

Being restored thanks to the generosity of
Mr. Graziano Curri, International Chapter
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In Egyptian mythology, Ptah was the
deification of the primordial mound in
the Ennead cosmogony from which the
world was formed. It is more literally
referred to as Ta-tenen meaning risen
land, or as Tanen, meaning submerged
land. Tatenen was a god in his own
right, before being assimilated with
Ptah.
Ptah called the world into being by
having dreamt creation in his heart and
speaking of it. His name means opener,
in the sense of opener of the mouth.
Indeed the opening of the mouth
ceremony, performed by priests at
funerals to release souls from their
corpses, was said to have been created
by Ptah. Thus, there is a relation of Ptah
with life (creation) as well as death.
This statue represents the deceased and
is identified the syncretistic form of the
god Ptah in Ptah-Sokari-Osiris. Written
on part of the front and back of the
head of this statue, is an inscription
indicating that this figure was created
to ensure the rebirth of the deceased.
In art, Ptah is portrayed as a bearded
mummified man, often wearing a skull
cap, with his hands holding an ankh
(key), was (sceptre), and djed (pillar): the
symbols of life, power and stability,
respectively.
Statues of this kind, very popular in the
late period, were placed in burial
chambers next to the sarcophagus of
the deceased. |
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| Wooden Shatbi Box of Djedmaatiuesankh |

Being restored thanks to the generosity of
the California Chapter |
This box belonged to the “singer of
Amon” Djedmaatiuesankh and was to
hold the ushatbi, the funerary statuettes
that the Egyptians believed would help
with the agricultural work in the afterlife.
The outer surface is richly decorated: on
the back is a representation of the
mummy of a goddess lying on a
deathbed, next to which are four canpoic
jars that were to contain the extracted
parts during the embalming process; on
the front is the god Anubi depicted in the
form of a jackal, over which runs a
horizontal line of hieroglyphics; and the
four sons of Horo (Amset, Kebehsenuf,
Hapi and Duamutef) decorate the two
lateral surfaces. The finding comes from
the famous tomb of “Bab el-Gasus” at
Deir el-Bahari discovered in 1891 by
French archaeologists Grébaut and
Daressy. The importance of this discovery
comes from the fact that this burial held
its own collection of 153 sarcophagi of
gods and goddesses during the XXI
dynasty (1070-945 BC). Other objects in
the funerary set of Djedmaatiuesankh are
housed today in various museums around
the world. The wooden case is on display
in Room II of the Egyptian Gregorian
Museum. |
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| Plaster Copy of the Rosetta Stone |

Being restored thanks to the generosity of
Mr. and Mrs Foster, Florida Chapter |
This plaster is a perfect and extremely rare
copy of the Rosetta Stone (today at the
British Museum in London). The Rosetta
Stone was found in the archaeological site of
Rosetta in the valley of the Nile river in 1799
by an officer of Napoleon. Soon afterwards,
this discovery allowed J.F. Champollion to
decipher the hieroglyphics leading the way
to the advent of modern Egyptology. The
Stone was subsequently kept by the British.
At the beginning of the XIX century four
copies of the Stone were made for the four
most important universities of the English
speaking world at the time: Cambridge,
Dublin, Edinburgh and Oxford.
The plaster copy of the Oriental Antiquities
Museum in the Vatican was created in the
XIX century. It is of extreme importance to
the Egyptian collection for two reasons: first,
it is a rare document to have in copy form,
and second the reproduction of the
inscription is exceedingly faithful to the
original. Being a perfect reproduction of the
original, this object serves as a precious
instrument for instruction and education in
the Vatican Museums. |
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