Cult Image of the God Ptah

Most people, when they think of ancient Egypt, think of its pyramids, its obelisks, its temples, but there are pieces that can take your breath away just by their beauty, their detail, their artistry. This piece was not in a burial. It was in a shrine in a temple. It was a cult statue created to house the spirit of the god Ptah. He helps to bring the world into being. Before the world began it was a big, dark void full of water. The material is lapis lazuli, that was imported actually from Afghanistan, so it’s very rare in ancient Egypt, and it was highly prized. Its intense blue color is hard to resist. This artist chose this stone for the dark waters at the beginning of the world’s creation. The detail tells you the roles that this god plays. This very specific piece has tiny bits of pyrite, what we call, “fool’s gold,” buried in the bright blue lapis to represent the stars, because Ptah is Lord of the Sky. That beautiful collar of beads stands for his role as Master Craftsman. He is the Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, because he is wearing a garment that belongs to the king, he wears the same beard as the king, and he holds the scepters that give him dominion and stability over the land. It looks like he’s standing on a little square base, but actually when you turn it to the side, you can see that the base has a sloped front. The base is actually a hieroglyph, the word that stands for maat, which means, “truth.” And that’s another of Ptah’s titles, he is the Lord of Truth. You have to think of ancient Egyptian deities as sort of like people. They needed to live in a house, and they needed to be fed and clothed and made happy. They in return would bring their powers to keep the world working the way everyone needed. But you’ll miss him in the gallery if you don’t look very carefully, because this piece is only two inches high. This piece spoke to me when I realized, you don’t need a single written word, three thousand years later, we can understand the same language.