Statue of Osiris, lord of the afterlife

This statue has the identifying characteristics

of Osiris, the god of the afterlife. The body seems

unformed but is meant to represent a mummy.

Twenty-sixth Dynasty

Reign of Psamtik I, 664–610 BCE

From Thebes, Medinet Habu

Graywacke

The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Amuletic plaque of Maat.

The two feathers this figure holds

identify her as Maat, goddess of truth

and justice. It would have been placed

below the breast of a mummy.

Twenty-first Dynasty, 1000 BCE

From Sakkara

Gold

The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Headrest.

 Designed to support the neck, this

typical headrest would have been

padded with a linen cushion when

used in life.

Late Old Kingdom–First Intermediate

Period, ca. 2345–2055 BCE

Alabaster or travertine

The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Ushebti box of Djed-Maat-iuesankh.

The 401 small ushebti figures kept in

this box would have accompanied their

mistress to the afterlife, awakening

when their services were required.

Twenty-first to Twenty-second

Dynasties, 1069-715 BCE

Painted wood

The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Maat, goddess of order, truth, and justice.

Thoth and Maat Composite statues like this often showed Thoth with a worshipper facing him and were donated to temples to demonstrate devotion to the god. Late Period, 664–332 BCE Wood and bronze The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

This sculpture of a mummified figure depicts the goal of every Egyptian—to become Osiris at the moment of rebirth. Twenty-sixth Dynasty, 664–525 BCE Gneiss, with electrum and gold headdress The Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Statue of the ba of Yuya, from the Tomb of Yuya and Tuya KV46, Valley of the Kings. New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, c. 1390 BC.

 

The Family of Neferherenptah. A priest who supervised the funerary cult for Khufu.

The sculptural group that shows Seneb accompanied by his family was found in the tomb of this character on the Giza plateau.