Quartzite statue of Osorkon I as the
Nile-god Hapy
From Karnak, Egypt
22nd
Dynasty, about 920 BC
Dedicated by Sheshonq, Osorkon's
son
Hapy, the
personification
of the River Nile, is frequently shown in human form with a sagging
paunchy stomach and heavy breasts. This mixture of male and female
characteristics is intended to signify fertility and the richness
of the natural world. To reinforce this, the abundance that the
Nile brings is displayed by the offering table which the god holds,
with its overflowing mass of the produce of
Egypt.
Statues such as this
have much in common with the 'fecundity figures'
placed in rows at the bottom of temple walls; these are intended to
represent the fertility and productiveness of the ground on which
the temple stands.
The
texts on this statue name King Osorkon I (about 924-889 BC) and it
is presumably his features that are represented. The small figures
on the side and associated texts indicate that the statue was
dedicated by Sheshonq, Osorkon's son. Portraits of kings of
the Twenty-second Dynasty are very rare, and it would appear that
this statue is made to look very like statues of the later
Eighteenth Dynasty, perhaps in a conscious attempt to recapture the
spirit of the reigns of Thutmose IV and Amenhotep
III.
T.G.H. James and W.V. Davies, Egyptian sculpture (London, The British Museum Press, 1983)