Antiquities
Sons of Horus — Amset & Duamutef
Late Period – Ptolemaic Period, 600–300 B.C.
Two finely modelled ancient Egyptian figures of the Sons of Horus: Amset (Imsety) and Duamutef. Crafted in fine levigated clay (fein geschlämmter Ton), each mummiform figure stands approximately 7 cm tall.
Amset, the human-headed guardian, was assigned to the South and protected the liver of the deceased. He is uniquely the only Son of Horus with a human head — reflecting his association with the goddess Isis. Duamutef, the jackal-headed guardian, was assigned to the East and protected the stomach. His jackal head — with elongated snout and alert ears clearly visible — connects him to Anubis, the great god of embalming. Duamutef’s protectress was the goddess Neith, the ancient warrior deity of Sais.
The Four Sons of Horus (Amset, Duamutef, Hapi, and Kebehsenuf) were among the most important deities in the Egyptian funerary cult. They protected the viscera in the canopic chest: Amset the liver, Duamutef the stomach, Hapi the lungs, and Kebehsenuf the intestines. Their images appeared on canopic jars, coffins, tomb walls, and as independent figures placed within the burial chamber. In four different vessels the organs were interred.
Comparable objects of these rare ancient Egyptian figures are held in the University Collection at Rämistrasse in Zurich, where they are dated to the Late Period through the Ptolemaic Period (600–300 B.C.). The British Museum, however, dates similar examples from the New Kingdom onwards (from 1551 B.C.). The authenticity of both pieces is guaranteed by the renowned Bern antiquities dealer Elsa Bloch-Diener (1994).
Provenance & Details
THE FOUR SONS OF HORUS AND THE EGYPTIAN CULT OF THE DEAD
In the theology of ancient Egypt, death was not an ending but a transformation — a perilous journey through the underworld (Duat) that required careful preparation if the deceased was to achieve eternal life in the Field of Reeds. Central to this preparation was the preservation of the body and its internal organs, for the Egyptians believed that the ka (life force) and ba (personality) would need to reunite with the physical form in the afterlife. As the Coffin Texts declare: 'I have come that I may be your protection; I fill for you your eye with sacred ointment.' ¹
During mummification, the embalmers removed the liver, lungs, stomach, and intestines, placing each organ in a separate canopic jar. These four jars were guarded by the Four Sons of Horus — Amset (Imsety), Duamutef, Hapi, and Qebehsenuef — four deities who served as protectors of the viscera and, by extension, as guardians of the deceased's bodily integrity in the afterlife. Each son was assigned a cardinal direction and paired with a protective goddess: Imsety with Isis (South), Hapi with Nephthys (North), Duamutef with Neith (East), and Qebehsenuef with Selket (West). ²
Amset (Imsety), the human-headed son, was charged with protecting the liver. Among the four sons, Amset is unique in bearing a human head — the others have the heads of a jackal, a baboon, and a falcon respectively. Some scholars suggest that Amset's human form reflects his association with the most 'human' of the organs: the liver, which the Egyptians considered the seat of emotion and intelligence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York holds a comparable funerary figure of Imsety, dated to the Late Period through Ptolemaic Period (ca. 400–30 B.C.), which shows the same mummiform pose and characteristic human head. ³
The tradition of the Four Sons of Horus is among the oldest in Egyptian religion, first appearing in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom (c. 2400 B.C.) — the earliest body of religious writings known from ancient Egypt — and continuing through the Ptolemaic Period and beyond. From the Twentieth Dynasty until the Roman Period (c. 1100–30 B.C.), each of the four canopic jars bore a distinctive head corresponding to its guardian deity. ⁴ Their representations evolved over the millennia — from simple painted images on canopic jars to elaborate three-dimensional figures like this specimen, which were placed within the burial chamber as independent protective amulets.
This figure, crafted in fine levigated clay, belongs to a pair (together with its companion Duamutef) acquired from the renowned Bern antiquities dealer Elsa Bloch-Diener in 1994. Comparable examples are held in the Archäologische Sammlung der Universität Zürich (Rämistrasse), the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the British Museum in London — institutions that date similar pieces from the Late Period through the Ptolemaic era (600–300 B.C.), though the British Museum suggests some examples may originate from the New Kingdom (from 1551 B.C.). ⁵
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¹ Coffin Texts, Spell 157; cf. R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, vol. I (Aris & Phillips, 1973). ² E. A. W. Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, vol. I (Methuen & Co., London, 1904), pp. 491–500. ³ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 'Funerary Figure of Imsety,' acc. no. 10.130.1381, Late Period–Ptolemaic Period, ca. 400–30 B.C. ⁴ J. H. Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt (British Museum Press, 2001), pp. 70–73. ⁵ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 'Funerary Figure of Duamutef,' acc. no. 10.130.1383; Art Institute of Chicago, 'Amulet of Imsety,' Ptolemaic Period; British Museum, London, EA 9539–40.
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