Sketch of Osiris
Description
Object Label: Even if he were not labeled by the hieroglyphs at the right ("Osiris, the great god"), this deity would be easy to identify. Osiris, lord of the underworld, is always shown as a mummy, often wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt adorned with two feathers of Ma`at (cosmic harmony). Here the god holds his characteristic crook and flail and is seated in a shrine or under a canopy. Though the almond eye, long nose, and full lips suggest a New Kingdom date (Dynasties 18–20, circa 1539–1070 B.C.E.), many other details indicate that the sketch was made in the Ptolemaic Period. The meticulous detail, manifest in the delineation of the ear, the eye, the plaited beard, the nostril, the thumbnails, and the feather pattern of the throne, is diagnostic for Egyptian drawing and relief of the fourth through first centuries B.C.E. Caption: Sketch of Osiris, 305–30 B.C.E.. Limestone, pigment, 15 x 7 1/2 x 3 9/16 in. (38.1 x 19 x 9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 37.52E. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano
Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.
A limestone fragment preserving a red ink sketch of a mummiform/standing human figure with a feathered headdress and arms crossed, accompanied by Egyptian-style line hieroglyphs.
The artifact appears to be a roughly rectangular limestone slab fragment with a light-colored surface. In the upper register, a profile view figure is sketched in reddish pigment: the figure wears an elaborate headdress/crest and has a stylized face, neck collar, and crossed arms over the chest/upper torso. Behind or beside the figure are lines suggesting a wing-like or feathered element. The lower body area includes a rectangular panel filled with a grid-like pattern, likely representing clothing or a schematic garment. To the right of the figure there are small vertical and horizontal strokes that resemble hieroglyphic line elements, but the individual signs are not clear enough to identify with confidence. No cartouche is visible. No Greek/Coptic/Arabic text is evident.
Cross-references (2)
- BKM-Accession 37.52E tier-2
- BKM-Object 3953 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Brooklyn Museum — Egyptian, Classical, Ancient Near Eastern Art.
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.