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Torso of a queen in the guise of Isis

Torso of a queen in the guise of Isis

3rd - 1st century B.C.

In the Ptolemaic period, Egyptian art was heavily influenced by Hellenistic tastes. While the ankh (hieroglyphic sign for "life") that the figure grasps in her right hand is a native Egyptian element, the body contours revealed beneath filmy drapery is typical of Greek art. Together, these elements may be proof that this statue was made for an Egyptian-Greek patron.
Granite
39 7/8 x 11 1/2 x 9 1/4 in. (101.3 x 29.2 x 23.5 cm)
Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund
57.188
Provenance: (Possibly from Semosta); [Maguid Sameda, Cairo, Egypt]; purchased from Mr. Sameda by Seattle Art Museum / Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund, Seattle, Washington, December 29, 1956; Accessioned by Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, December 27, 1957
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Published ReferencesThe Art Quarterly, Spring 1958, p. 83

Teeter, Emily, The Egyptian Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, in KMT: A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt, Vol. 12, No. 3, Fall 2001, illus. p. 33

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