Isis and Horus
Unknown Artist
664–30 B.C.
Medium
Cupreous metal
Dimensions
H. 14 cm (5 1/2 in.); W. 3.7 cm (1 7/16 in.); D. 6.6 cm (2 5/8 in.) H. (with tang): 15.8 cm (6 1/4 in.)
Classification
Statuette, Isis, Horus
Period
Late Period–Ptolemaic Period
Department
Egyptian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Joseph W. Drexel, 1889
Accession Number
89.2.570
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant statuette of Isis nursing her son Horus one of ancient Egypt’s most enduring symbols of maternal protection and divine kingship. Created between 664 and 30 B.C. during the Late and Ptolemaic Periods, the small bronze figure shows the goddess seated with the young Horus on her lap, offering her breast—an intimate gesture that reinforced the pharaoh’s claim to legitimacy as the living embodiment of Horus. Isis, revered as the ideal mother and magician who resurrected her husband Osiris, here embodies the nurturing power that safeguarded both the royal line and the cosmic order. Fas...