Cupid (Eros) and Osiris (Giza)

Cupid (Eros) and Osiris (Giza)

Formal Analysis

Osiris (also known as Giza) is an Egyptian funerary god that is most typically mummified in its representation. In the bronze figurine found at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Osiris is depicted standing, is mummified (as noted as typical), wears a false beard and a tall atef crowns, and holds the crook and flail. The statue's dimensions are 4.1 centimeters in height and 0.9 centimeters in width. The statue is Egyptian, from the Late Period -- Hellenistic Period (Ptolemaic dynast, 760-30 B.C.) (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 2011). This statue of Osiris will be compared to the Tiny Eros Statuette also found at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Eros (also known as Cupid) was the Greek god of love and desire and was also worshipped as a fertility god. In the Museum's terracotta statuette, Eros stands with one hand on his hip. He has one wing missing. The statuette is placed on an ancient base. The statuette is one inch in dimension and is labeled as Greek, South Italian, Archaic Period, 600-480 B.C. (2011).

The statue of Osiris is long in relation to its width (4.1 cm high and 0.9 cm wide) while the tiny statuette of Eros is listed as 2.5 cm in height (without any width recorded); however, the statuette of Cupid looks as if it would have been nearly the same size in width as its height if it had both of its wings intact. Osiris is nearly rectangular in its form while Eros, with both wings intact could have appeared to look more like an upside-down triangle. The forms are not organic, but rather, both appear to be very consciously geometric in their respective nature. In looking at the space within the components of Osiris, there appears to be a lot of negative or dark space within the pieces. Because of the grainy texture of the statue, the small holes all over the piece create a feeling of dark space everywhere on the statue. The piece also has very little breathing room around its shape. That is, beneath the head and above the shoulders, the space is quite limited, which gives the illusion of dark space once again. The same holds true for the space underneath the folded arms and the bottom of the torso as well as above the feet in the ankle area of the statue. The statuette of Eros has a lot more positive or light space around it, which may be due in part to the fact that the left wing is completely missing. The right side of the statue, however, has a lot of positive space beneath the wing. The area beneath the wing seems to breathe very openly though the area above the wing and the head is more negative in space. With the statuette of Eros, there seems to be a lot of space, but on close examination of the piece, it seems that perhaps this is just an illusion of space and especially in comparison with the statue of Osiris. Perhaps this also has something to do with texture. The Osiris statue is dark and very grainy or gritty in its appearance while the statuette of Eros is a light terracotta color. In truth, however, both pieces are very granular in appearance so the color of the statues may have a lot to do with the illusion of their space and the appearance of the texture. The visual feel of both pieces give the idea that both would be very rough in texture and, especially in the case of Osiris, would perhaps break away at the touch of a hand. This obviously leads to the value of the statues -- the lightness and darkness -- of each piece. There is a lot going on in the Osiris statue in terms of value. The piece has shades of brown, grey, green and some white in it -- as well as some black flecks. The top of the statue has a lot of lightness to it -- especially in the area that is the face as well as the area right under the folded arms. The bottom of the statue (the feet) and the right side shoulder are as well as what appears to be the neck is imbued with a very mossy green color. The color jumps out in comparison to the other colors depicted on the statue. In the case of Eros, the tiny statuette is a rather flat brown color all over except the wing appears to be a darker terracotta color. There is some change in color as well at the base of the statuette and on the left shoulder (perhaps the area that was part of the beginning of the wing that is missing). There are three or four darker areas on the body that give the piece a lot movement. The darker areas give interesting planes to the statuette.

Subject Matter

Osiris is a funerary god known as the Lord of the Dead (Lesko p. 28). Osiris is a mythological god who was believed to be the son of Nut and Re. Osiris is understood as having come from the constellation Orion (p. 28) who gave birth to the stars on a daily basis. Osiris is mainly represented as mummified, which is an interesting fact when considering the mythology of Osiris. Pinch (p. 4) notes that many of the main events in Egyptian myth, for example, the burial of the murdered god Osiris, were believed to have happened in very specific places around Egypt (or in its neighboring countries). This means that a mythological geography can be "superimposed on the physical geography" (p. 4). Every important Egyptian temple, according to Pinch, was thus created as a miniature cosmos in which the key events in mythical history were played out over and over again -- so there came to be many "tombs of Osiris" (p. 4). The mythological belief was that Osiris ruled a very separate realm of the dead, which is most likely why Osiris is commonly depicted as dead and mummified. Osiris's importance to Egyptian mythology has to do with his murder and his subsequent reign as Lord of the Dead and so to depict him in more earthly representation would seem to go against the importance of his role in mythology.

Plato said,

"Love -- Eros -- makes his home in men's hearts, but not in every heart, for where there is hardness he departs. His greatest glory is that he cannot do wrong nor allow it; force never comes near him. For all men serve him of their own free will. And he whom Love touches not walks in darkness" (Hamilton p. 38).

Eros -- or perhaps more commonly known as Cupid -- is a mythological figure who in early accounts was not Aphrodite's son, but only just her sometimes companion (Hamilton p. 38). In later accounts Eros became known as her son and also was seen as a very mischievous little boy: "Evil his heart, but honey-sweet his tongue. No truth in him, the rogue. He is cruel in play… Touch not his treacherous gifts, they are dipped in fire" (p. 38). Hamilton notes that Eros was often represented in works of art as being blindfolded (because love is usually blind), however, in the tiny statuette of Eros being considered, the face is quite smooth and it is difficult to detect if Eros was indeed blindfolded in this representation.

Perhaps the most famous story about Eros (Cupid in Latin) is the story of Cupid and Psyche. Aphrodite (Venus in Latin) is jealous of Psyche and asks Eros to shoot her with an arrow while she is sleeping so that when she awakens she will fall in love with some disgusting creature. Eros goes to do the deed, but he sees how beautiful she is and he hesitates, only to have her wake up and he accidentally shoots himself, so he falls madly in love with her. Knowing the story of Eros and Psyche, it is easy to see that not only was this mythological, but it also became a literary tale that was told and retold in fairy tales throughout the ages.

Part Two: Meaning and Function

In the case of Osiris, the statue was most likely used in order to represent an important god in a physical way in order for people to worship that god. So that means that the statue most likely had a very practical purpose. The statue was most likely used inside or outside a temple as a reminder of that god, but it could have also been used to be buried with an individual. The creation of a statue of a funerary god seems to have one important function and that is for that god to be remembered or to be idolized. In looking at the statue, it seems unlikely that the statue of made for the purpose of being an art piece. What would be the purpose of that for ancient Egyptians? It seems that Egyptian "art" (as we now call it) had very specific purposes throughout ancient Egyptian time. However, even though their paintings, carvings and sculptures probably served a more functional purpose than otherwise, this does not mean that they didn't want to add aesthetic value to those things. In the case of this funerary sculpture, however, there is very little aesthetic value added to it, which makes one think that its purpose was purely functional and that it served a very specific purpose.