Skip Navigation

Statuette of the Child Horus

Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art

MEDIUM Bronze, plaster
  • Reportedly From: Saqqara, Egypt
  • DATES 4th-3rd century B.C.E.
    PERIOD Ptolemaic Period to Roman Period
    DIMENSIONS 5 3/8 x 2 5/8 in. (13.7 x 6.6 cm)  (show scale)
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.364E
    CREDIT LINE Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Bronze figure of the god Harpocrates shown nude, except for the "heart" amulet suspended around his neck, and seated (without a seat). Possibly made to be set on the lap of a larger figure of Isis. The figure is still partly encased in its original mold. The mold now covers the figure's back (up to the level of the armpits), and the front of the legs (with the exception of the lower left leg which is exposed and mostly missing). This mold is discolored green (from an original white), possibly from having been in contact with corroding bronze. The figure wears a bulbous crown adorned with a uraeus. He wears a side- lock. On top of the crown is a roughly rectangular depression (for insertion of an object? Or traces of hole used for casting?). Condition: Most of left leg missing; left hand missing. Back of shoulders split open; most of rear of head missing; area of bright green (disease?) on edge of break in rear of head. Surface pitted and scratched.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Statuette of the Child Horus, 4th-3rd century B.C.E. Bronze, plaster, 5 3/8 x 2 5/8 in. (13.7 x 6.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.364E. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.37.364E_NegA_print_bw.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, CUR.37.364E_NegA_print_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
    You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.