Harpocrates

A copper alloy statuette of a nude child, possibly Harpocrates, the Graeco-Roman adaptation of the Egyptian child god Haros. The child's left hand covers the left buttock and the right index finger is held to the lips. The figure is finished with a possible headdress or an elaborate hairstyle with a high point above the forehead.

Haros was often depicted with a finger to his lips, an ancient Egyptian gesture symbolising childhood. This was misunderstood by the Greeks who transformed Haros, to Harpocrates, the child god of silence and secrecy. Horus was the son of the great Egyptian mother-goddess Isis, whose cult was to spread throughout the Roman Empire, and Osiris, Egyptian god of the afterlife.

Although the finger raised to the lips would suggest this statuette does indeed depict Harpocrates, the lack of male genitalia casts some doubt on this.