Bronze Isis in an Egyptian Headdress with a Sistrum in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, October 2009

Isis

1st–2nd century A.D.

Dimensions: Height: 13 cm (5 1/8 in.)

Accession Number: 04.1713

Medium or Technique: Bronze



She is clad in a fringed mantle, fastened with an "Isiac" knot; on the head there is the solar disc with uraeus, between horns and feathers. Only the handle of a sistrum held in the right hand remains. The left hand held a vessel. The headdress (uraeus) has been bent forward. Green and brown patina.

Label text:
The great goddess of Egypt who revived her dead husband Serapis. The Greeks identified her with Io, who, after an illicit love affair with Zeus, was changed into a cow and driven to Egypt.

Provenance: By date unknown: with Edward Perry Warren; 1904: gift of Edward Perry Warren to MFA

Credit Line: Gift of Edward Perry Warren

Text from: www.mfa.org/collections/object/isis-152750