Isis-Hathor Nursing the Infant Horus

This statuette of a seated woman depicts the goddess Isis—sister and wife of Osiris. In ancient Egypt, she symbolized the virtues of the loving wife. The position of her arms indicates that, originally, she was nursing their son Horus (missing today), thereby embodying the figure of motherhood and symbolizing the transferral of royalty. Here, she is assimilated with the nursing goddess, Hathor, wearing her crown of cow horns around a solar disk.