The Museum sign accompanying this piece informs us that the statue of the god was made as a receptical for magical texts. The sculpture sits atop a base which has two drawers...one in front and another hidden in the back.
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
In Egyptian mythology, Ptah ...is the demiurge of Memphis, god of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the spouse of Sekhmet and the father of Nefertum. He was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep.
Origin and symbolism
Ptah is the Creator god par excellence: He is considered the demiurge who existed before all things, and by his willfulness, thought the world. It was first conceived by Thought, and realized by the Word: Ptah conceives the world by the thought of his heart and gives life through the magic of his Word. That which Ptah commanded was created, with which the constituents of nature, fauna, and flora, are contained. He also plays a role in the preservation of the world and the permanence of the royal function.
In the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, the Nubian pharaoh Shabaka would transcribe on a stela known as the Shabaka Stone, an old theological document found in the archives of the library of the temple of the god at Memphis. This document has been known as the Memphite Theology, and shows the god Ptah, the god responsible for the creation of the universe by thought and by the Word.
Ptah is the patron of craftsmanship, metalworking, carpenters, shipbuilders, and sculpture. From the Middle Kingdom onwards, he was one of five major Egyptian gods with Ra, Isis, Osiris and Amun.
He wears many epithets that describe his role in ancient Egyptian religion and its importance in society at the time:
Ptah the beautiful face
Ptah lord of truth
Ptah master of justice
Ptah who listens to prayers
Ptah master of ceremonies
Ptah lord of eternity."