Ca. 100-200 AD. Roman Period. A terracotta figure of the young god Harpocrates, covered with traces of white pigment. He is represented nude, infantile, and seated on an amorphous stand, with his hands clasped together instead of in the whisper position that is typical of his iconography during this period. He holds a vessel beneath his left arm. The side-lock of youth, worn by Egyptian boys before adulthood, emerges from a floral wreath around his head, with a small pschent crown (the red and white double crown of Egypt) above the wreath. There is a small hole on the back for firing, and a restored crack along the right forearm. Harpocrates was the Greek adaptation of the Egyptian god Horus in his youthful form, his name being a Hellenization of the Egyptian ‘Har-Pa-Khered’ meaning 'Horus the Child'. Traditionally Horus the Child was associated with the rising sun and with healing and protection, but the Greeks and Romans misinterpreted the Egyptian iconography of him raising a finger to his lips; to the Egyptians this was a gesture of youth (akin to showing a child sucking their thumb today) but the Greeks and Romans saw it as the whisper gesture still used today, and thus Harpocrates became a god of silence and secrets. Size: L:260mm / W:123mm ; 840g. Provenance: From a London private family collection; formerly acquired on the UK art market in the 1960s - 1970s; thence by descent.