Bronze statuette of Ptah, Dyn. 25

Bronze statuette of Ptah, Dyn. 25
Period:Egypt, 3rd Intermediate Period, Dynasty 25 and Contemporaries
Dating:747 BC–656 BC
Origin:Egypt, Lower Egypt, Memphis
Material:Bronze
Physical:15cm. (5.9 in.) -
Catalog:MET.MM.00830

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Links to others from Dynasty 25 and Contemporaries

Amulet of Duamutef, Dyn. 25
Amulet of Imsety, Dyn. 25
Bronze Imhotep seated, Dyn. 25 (?)
Bronze Nefertem pendant amulet, Dyn. 25
Bronze of a queen nursing, Dyn. 25
Bronze of King Shabaka ? as Osiris, Dyn. 25
Bronze of Ptah, Memphis, Dyn. 25
Bronze ritual pendant of Osiris, Dyn. 25
Bronze ritual pendant of Osiris, Dyn. 25
Faience amulet of Qebhsenuef, Dyn. 25
Five Udjat eyes amulet, Dyn. 25
Horus-the-Child as Amun, 776-656 BC
Horus-the-Child, Dyn. 25, 776-656 BC
Mentuemhet, prince of Thebes, Dyn. 25
Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 25
Queen Aqaluqa as Isis nursing, Dyn. 25
Queen as Goddess Neith seated, Dyn. 25106

Queen as Isis nursing, Dyn. 25
Scarab of Piankhi, Dyn. 25
Twenty-eight udjat eyes amulet, Dyn. 25
Udjat eye amulet-pendant, Dyn. 25
Udjat eye amulet-pendant, Dyn. 25

Links to others representing Ptah

Ritual pendant for the Priest of Ptah
Scarab with Lord Ptah, Dyn. 12

Links to others of type Statuette-man

Bacchus the child, Roman, 100 BC-200 AD
Bes in terra-cotta, Dyn. 27
Bronze athlete, Rome, 96-192 AD
Bronze Etruscan warrior, Etruria, 480 BC
Bronze Herakles, Etruria, 500 BC
Bronze Imhotep seated, Dyn. 25 (?)
Bronze ithyphallic god Bes, Ptolemaic
Bronze of a king as Nefertem, N.K.
Bronze of a king as Orisiris, Dyn. 18-19
Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 18
Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 22
Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 26
Bronze of a king as Osiris, Dyn. 26
Bronze of King Psamtik I as Osiris, Dyn. 26
Bronze of King Psamtik I as Osiris, Dyn. 26
Bronze of King Sethi I as Nefertem, Dyn. 19
Bronze of King Shabaka ? as Osiris, Dyn. 25
Bronze of Ptah, Memphis, Dyn. 25
Bronze ritual pendant of Osiris, Dyn. 25
Bronze Samnite gladiator, Rome, 30 BC-68 AD
Bronze statuette of Anhur, Dyn. 20
Bust of Zeus, Macedonian Dynasty
Disrobing ephebe, Roman World, 50-300 AD
Enameled feathers of Amun, Dyn. 18
Gilded wooden statuette. Early Dynastic
God Bes as a Roman soldier 30 BC-200 AD
Head, realistic portrait in stone, Dyn 18
Horus-the-Child, 1070-774 BC
Horus-the-Child, Alexandria, 100-30 BC
Horus-the-Child, Alexandria, 304-30 BC
Horus-the-Child as a ruling king, Dyn. 18
Horus-the-Child as Amun, 776-656 BC
Horus-the-Child, Dyn.19, 1300-1200 BC
Horus-the-Child, Dyn. 25, 776-656 BC
Horus-the-Child, heir to the king, Dyn. 26
Horus-the-Child, Ptolemaic, 200-100 BC
Horus-the-Child, Ptolemaic, 304-30 BC
Horus-the-Child riding a swan, 304-31 BC
Imhotep, vizier and architect of King Djoser
Ivory head of Emperor Constantine
King Ahmose II (?) as Osiris, Dynasty 26
King Amenemope (?) as Osiris, Dyn. 21
King Amenhotep II (?) as Amun-Re, Dyn. 18
King as Horus-the-Child, Dyn. 12
King Horemheb as Amun-Re, Dyn. 18
King Nekaw II as Horus-the-child, Dyn.26
Osiris, King of the Afterlife, Dyn. 18
Osiris, King of the Afterlife, Dyn. 22
Osiris of an unknown king, Dyn. 18 (?)
Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 18
Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 22
Osiris-Neper, god of agriculture, Dyn. 25
Porphyry statue of Alexander The Great
Pottery child head, Phoenicia, 1000-500 BC
Pottery silenus (satyr), Greece, 350-300 BC
Priest of Hapy, temple of Aswan, Dyn. 20
Ptah-Min of Memphis, Dyn. 20
Queen as Goddess Neith seated, Dyn. 25106

Ruling king as Khonsu, Dyn. 20
Sept, local prince of Nubia, Dyn. 12-13
Statue pedestal of Osorkon II, Dyn. 22
Statuette of a privileged man, Dyn. 18
Stone bust of a scribe, Dyn. 18
Stone head of a king, Dyn. 12
Stone statue of King Thutmose III, Dyn. 18
Tall bronze Osiris, Ptolemaic Period
Unfinished stone statue, Dyn. 19
Wood statue of Amenemhat II, Dyn. 12
Wood statue of King Smenkhkare, Dyn. 18
  This bronze statue of Ptah, with its strictly traditional skullcap, circular necklace, and ‘was’ scepter held with both hands, also displays evidence of the evolving iconography of Dynasty 25: here Ptah wears bracelets, his beard is tapered in Middle Kingdom fashion, and he displays morphologic traits of the Kushites: broad neck and face, and fleshy lips.

Dynasty 25
The kings of Dynasty 25 (747-656 BC) were not from Egypt, but from the land of Kush, south of Egypt (in today’s northern Sudan). Previously invaded, colonized, exploited, and forcefully ‘Egyptianized’ most recently during the New Kingdom, the Kushites had unexpectedly retained their Egyptianized ways in the five hundred years since the Egyptian state had pulled out of Kush. Their leader Piankhy (Piyi) still worshipped Egyptian gods, wrote official texts in classical hieroglyphs, and intended to be buried under a pyramid. Indeed, at a time when Lower Egypt was populated by a majority of ethnic Lybians who did not necessarily revere the Egyptian cultural heritage as their own, and when the strong pharaohs of the past had been replaced by a “federation of semi-autonomous rulers” (Shaw 2000:345), Piankhy felt more genuinely Egyptian than any king of Egypt. In fact, Kushite kings “did not see themselves as foreigners, although they had different ethnic, cultural and linguistic roots. In their view and faith, Kush and Egypt were the two halves of the ancient kingdom of Amun, which were once united in a distant mythical past” (Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris 1997:166, 170).

And so, when King Tefnakht of Sais in the Delta showed expansionist ambitions, Piankhy’s religious fervor led him to descend upon Egypt with his powerful army in a crusade to unite the nation under an ‘ideologically Egyptian’ king—himself. In southern Egypt, he diplomatically established his influence by convincing the Thebans to adopt his sister Amenirdis as the Divine Adoratrice of Amun—a position with considerable political power. In northern Egypt, his military supremacy brought compliance. But instead of annihilating the (mostly Lybian) kings, princes and chieftains of the Delta, he was satisfied with receiving their pledge of allegiance.

By the strength of their conviction and their deft and consistent application of symbolically charged gestures, Kushite kings awoke in their people a sense of national identity, gave a new impetus and a clear purpose to a land slowly drifting away into irrelevance. Although the idea of drawing strength from Egypt’s great past predates their intervention—“it had its origin in the later Lybian period, having begun during the first half of the eight century BC” (Shaw 2000:356)—the Kushites lent an energy, and a dedication to the cause that is almost palpable. Dynasty 25 high art blends the physical strength of Kushite body types with the classical model of Old Kingdom portraiture, adding a few details that demonstrate that Dynasty 25 Egypt was not just a relic of the past, but a nation moving forward, building confidently and proudly on its glorious heritage.

Although in artistic and cultural matters, the Kushite kings insisted on a return to Old Kingdom order, in politics they were unwilling to commit the resources necessary to return to an absolute centralized royal authority. But perpetuating the decentralized model of the previous hundred years meant they had to intervene sporadically to curtail the ambitions of their vassals. More importantly, the relative independence of local rulers in the delta eventually drew them to meddle in rebellions against the Assyrian dominance of Palestine. Provoking the Assyrian empire at the height of its power proved fatal to the Kushite Dynasty. In 667 BC, Assyria invaded Egypt and the Kushites pulled back to the land of Kush. Within three years, all hope was lost for Dynasty 25.


Bibliography (for this item)

Institut du monde Arabe, Paris, , and Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich
1997 SOUDAN. Royaumes sur le Nil (Exhibition in Munich, Paris, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Mannheim.). Flammarion, Paris.



Bibliography (on Dynasty 25)

Institut du monde Arabe, Paris, , and Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Munich
1997 SOUDAN. Royaumes sur le Nil (Exhibition in Munich, Paris, Amsterdam, Toulouse, Mannheim.). Flammarion, Paris.

Shaw, Ian
2000 The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom.






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