The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Statuette of Harpocrates

c. 50 BCE

Greece, Greco-Roman Period, late Ptolemaic Dynasty

bronze, hollow cast, with silver inlays
Overall: 27 x 10.2 x 8.6 cm (10 5/8 x 4 x 3 3/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1972.6
Location: 102C Greek

Did You Know?

The gesture this figure makes refers to the Egyptian hieroglyph for child, nn, 𓀁.

Description

Combining Hellenistic naturalism with a finger gesture associated with childhood in Egyptian tradition, this young figure represents Harpocrates, the Greek form of the Egyptian child sun god Horus, or Hor-pa-khred. A hole atop his head likely once held a double crown of Egypt, as on more traditionally Egyptian representations of Harpocrates.
  • Probably Alexandria
    Private Collection, England (said to have been purchased in Egypt about a century ago)
    -1972
    Robert Hecht, Jr., Rome, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1972-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Oh
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, and Arielle P. Kozloff. An Introduction to the Art of Egypt in the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: [The Museum], 1970. p. 19
    Cooney, John D. "Harpocrates, the Dutiful Son." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 59, no. 10 (1972) pp. 284-90 www.jstor.org
    Lee, Sherman E. "The Year in Review for 1972." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 3 (1973) p. 106 www.jstor.org
    Zick, Gisela. "Amor0Harpokrates: Zur Wirkungsgeschichte und Ikonographischen Herleitung einer Skulptur von Etienne0Maurice Falconet," Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 37 (1975). pp. 224-25 fig. 18
    Richardson, Emeline, and G. Kenneth Sams. Small Sculptures in Bronze from the Classical World: An Exhibit in Honor of Emeline Hill Richardson : The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center and the Department of Classics of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, March 7-April 18, 1976. [Chapel Hill, N.C.]: The Center, 1976. Cat. No. 33
    Swan Hall, Emma. "Harpocrates and Other Child Deities in Ancient Egyptian Sculpture." Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt (JARCE) 56 (1977). pp. 56-7, pl. XXVII
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 27 archive.org
    Kozloff, A.P. "Harpocrates and the Sacred Goose." The Ancient World 3, No. 3 (September 1980). figs. 4-5
    Kozloff, Arielle P. "The Egyptian Collection of the Cleveland Museum o Art," Newsletter of the American Research Center in Egypt 125 (Spring 1984) p. 11
    Kozloff, Arielle P., David Gordon Mitten, and Suzannah Fabing. The Gods Delight: The Human Figure in Classical Bronze. Cleveland, Ohio: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1988. Cat. No. 21
    Kozloff, Arielle P. Classical Art: A Brief Guide to the Collection, the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland]: The Museum, 1989. p. 15, fig. 31
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 12 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Lawrence Michael Berman, and Kenneth J. Bohač. Catalogue of Egyptian Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art. [Cleveland, OH]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. pp. 474-475, Cat. No. 367
  • Egyptomania: Fashion’s Conflicted Obsession. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 1, 2023-January 28, 2024).
    The Gods Delight: The Human Figure in Classical Bronze. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (16 November 1988- 8 January 1989); The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (9 February - 9 April 1989); Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA (9 May - July 1989)
    Small Sculptures in Bronze from the Classical World, William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, Chapel Hill, N.C., (March 7 - April 18, 1976)
    Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).
  • {{cite web|title=Statuette of Harpocrates|url=false|author=|year=c. 50 BCE|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.6