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15A013
RELIEF OF A WOMAN
Egypt, Old Kingdom, Dynasty V–VI, 2494–2181 B.C. Limestone. The sculpting of the figure is wafer-thin in keeping with one of the sculptural styles of the Old Kingdom. The image is that of an elite woman facing left, represented according to the conventions for rotating planes, with both of her feet together. Her near arm is held along the side of her body whereas her far arm, bent at the elbow, is elevated at an acute angle and placed across her upper chest. Her facial features are individualized and slightly less idealizing than expected. She wears a striated, tripartite wig and a tightly fitting sheath. The accessories of our elite female figure include bracelets and anklets as well as a broad collar.
Parallel: compare an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see William C. Hayes, The Scepter of Egypt (Greenwich, 1953), p. 89, fig. 48.
$7,500
15A014
USHABTI
Egypt, New Kingdom, Dynasty XIX, 1306–1186 B.C. Limestone. The ushabti bears much of the original paint. His wig is black; his eyes are outlined in black, with black pupils; and the same color creates a series of parallel stripes along the border of his large pectoral. Red paint colors his lips and indicates the implements held in his hands as well as the interior patterns of the pectoral. Down the front of his garment is a vertical panel containing a hieroglyphic inscription. The incised edges of the panel are filled with red paint, the incised hieroglyphs with black. The inscription is not the usual text for a ushabti but instead reads:
“Osiris, who presides in the east, may he give sweet breeze for the ka of Lady Itiuhay.” The inscription is a prayer that Osiris will grant the ability to breathe, i.e., life, to the soul of the deceased owner of the ushabti. Break expertly repaired at ankles. Rare
$12,500
15A015
WINGED SCARAB AMULET
Egypt, Late Period or later, after 600 B.C. Light blue glazed faience, molded. Wing tip to wing tip: 18.9 cm (7.44 in) The composition scarab is composed of three parts, attached in modern times. The wings show four rows of overlapping feathers, separated by raised lines. The details of the scarab include its molded mouth parts, smooth thorax with a raised outline, and wings adorned with a ribbed pattern. Each wing and the scarab are pierced for attachment.
Provenance: Ex Täckholm collection, 1890–1940. Intact.
$6,500
15A016
VOTIVE OFFERING IN THE SHAPE OF A HUMAN LEG
Egypt, Ptolemaic period, 305–30 B.C. Plaster. Generally termed sculptors’ models because they were once thought to be used as aids in teaching apprentices the art of sculpting, these objects are now believed to be votive objects dedicated in Egyptian sanctuaries by pilgrims seeking divine benefactions. This one represents a human left foot with its toes rendered as the heads of jackals. These are often depicted singly on the feet of certain deities. In ancient Egypt, this was a convention for representing the genii who formed the advance guard in the entourage of the deity whose feet they adorned.
Parallel: compare the example in The Egyptian Museum, Cairo, in limestone and without the jackal-headed toes, see Nadja Tomoum, The Sculptors’ Models of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods (Cairo, 2005), no. 97. Breaks at calf and ankle expertly repaired. Partial loss of one toe. Extremely rare.
$4,950
15A017
ROUND-TOPPED STELA
Egypt, Ptolemaic period, 305–30 B.C. Limestone. The stela, carved in sunk relief, features a figural scene at the top set beneath the heaven, represented by a curved pet-sign, and supported at each corner by a was-scepter. Directly beneath the pet-sign is “the winged sun disk,” so captioned in hieroglyphs which help to frame the figural scene.
To the far right, with close-cropped hair and wearing a plain linen kilt belted at the waist, is the owner, captioned “Horus, the son of Wenenefer, and the grandson of Pa-sheri-en-ptah” and accompanied by titles also found in the main text. He stands with arms lowered before an offering table of traditional form on which loaves of bread, cut lengthwise, have been arranged. To the left and right of the offering table are hieroglyphs suggesting the reading “1000 loaves of bread, 1000 jugs of beer, 1000 head of cattle, 1000 fowl,” each of the four representing a traditional funerary offering.
To the left of the offering table are two deities. The first is captioned “Osiris, who is foremost in Tayet [the city of Buto?].” He is depicted mummiform, wearing a false beard and the white crown fronted by a uraeus. He holds a crook and a flail in his hands. The goddess, captioned “Hathor, mistress of Tayet,” stands behind Osiris. She wears a tight-fitting linen sheath and a tripartite wig surmounted by a pair of cow horns which frame a sun disk fronted by a uraeus, and she holds an ankh-sign and lily scepter in her hands. The scene is articulated by a rosy-pink polychromy, still preserved in places.
The stela proper is inscribed with eight lines of hieroglyphs concerning funerary offerings on behalf of the deceased owner: “A gift which pharaoh bestows on the goddess Hathor, who is the mistress of Tayet, the astral head of all the deities in her own temple, that they all might give seweret-ta offerings as well as sweet breeze of the north wind to the spirit of the deceased, who is venerated under the great god, whose principal title is that of xwj-sq, whose name is Horus, who is the son of the royal inspector attached to the cult of the god Osiris who is the lord of the place of Ra-sety, the inspector and overseer of the temple of Ptah, who is the son of the elite official named Wenenefer, who is himself the son of an elite official named Pa-sheri-en-ptah.”
Hathor, in this context, represents the unbridled, regenerative forces of the cosmos. In the figural vignette both deities are linked to the place Tayet, suggested to be Buto, and this is significant because the root meaning of that name is associated with weavers, particularly weavers of the linen bandages with which the corpse of Osiris was wrapped. The owner of this stela, Horus, thus shares with Osiris his mummy bandages, associated with Hathor and with the city of Tayet, thereby reinforcing his aspired resurrection and identification with the god Osiris.
The style of the relief sculpting is in keeping with expected norms of the Late Period. Its format, a tall, thin vertical rectangle, suggests a Ptolemaic date and an origin in Lower Egypt. Stelae of this type are often associated with the site of Memphis. The name of the grandfather of the deceased, Pa-sheri-en-Ptah (literally, “the child of the god Ptah”) tends to support the suggested provenance, as does the mention of Ra-sety as a cult site associated with Osiris. Ra-sety is mentioned on numerous faience vessels resembling shot glasses and is believed to have been located in the Giza-Saqqara area. Ex Swiss private collection, circa 1970s. A break midway up the stela is expertly repaired, and now nearly undetectable. Finely cut with incised details of the figures in rosy-pink polychromy.
P.O.R.
15A018
MUMMY SHROUD
SOLD
Egypt, Ptolemaic or Roman period, c. 1st Linen. Length of shroud: 127 cm (50 in)
Length of bandage: 27.3 cm (10.75 in) The mummy shroud, fragmentary at the top and with a few lacunae elsewhere, is sewn onto a modern linen backing. A full length figure of the mummy is painted in green, black, and white on a natural linen background. The face is delineated in black and wears a beard. Below is a pectoral with falcon head terminals, one missing. The chest is adorned with a winged scarab holding the solar disk. In a narrow panel running horizontally below the scarab and vertically down the center of the lower body is the hieroglyphic inscription:
“Words spoken by the Osiris lyefkhered, true of voice, son of Padiasha(i)ket, true of voice and born of the lady of the house Rwrw, true of voice, you have come Anubis, on his mountain, the Imywt, lord of the necropolis […], in order to give perfumes and scented oils.”
Below the horizontal panel are the Four Sons of Horus, and below them is a lattice netting across the legs, terminating in a long, beaded fringe. The fragmentary mummy bandage is sewn to the backing above the shroud. It bears the hieroglyphic inscription:
“[Born of the lady of the house] Rwrw, true of voice, I have come to you Anubis on your mountain, the Imywt, lord of the necropolis […].”
Provenance: Ex Hans Henningsen collection, Copenhagen, 1950. Custom framed and carefully sewn to linen. Fragmentary as shown, but extremely rare in any state of preservation.
$12,500
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15A019
MOSAIC FACE BEADS
Egypt, Ptolemaic or Roman period, 1st century B.C.–1st century A.D. Glass. Diameters: 18 mm (.71 in), 17 mm (.67 in), 15 mm (9/16 in), 14 mm (.59 in) The largest bead is of opaque dark red glass, decorated with three facing female heads outlined in blue, with black hair waving above and a white part or ornament between the locks of hair. The heads are separated by blue rosettes. The second bead is of opaque lime green glass and jug-shaped, its perforation not penetrating the narrow end. The band of decoration consists of four facing heads, each in a square frame with blue background, separated by multicolored square panels quartered diagonally. The third bead is of opaque black glass. The decorative band consists of three facing female busts with long black hair, each wearing a necklace and each in a square frame with dark red background. Separating these frames are multicolored square panels quartered diagonally. The last bead is of opaque red glass with a similar decorative band, with facing heads against a black background.
Parallels: Ancient Glass (Miho, 2001), fig. 105. All intact. Four beads in one lot.
$2,750
15A020
STATUETTE OF HARPOCRATES
Roman Egypt, 1st century A.D. Silver. Height, excluding mount: 4 cm (1.57 in) The silver figurine of Harpocrates shows him wearing the double crown, sucking his finger in the conventional pose. He wears the nebris (deer skin) over his right shoulder and holds a cornucopiae in his left hand. Harpocrates also has the attributes of Eros, wings and a quiver slung over his back. During this period Harpocrates, the child of Osiris and Isis, was often conflated with the Greek Eros as a god of abundance. Feet missing. Mounted on plexiglass.
$1,800
15A021
RELIEF DEPICTING A DIVINE TRIAD
Roman Egypt, 2nd–3rd century A.D. Limestone. In the center is a bearded male, seated on a throne with a high openwork back. He wears a short-sleeved chiton with a himation draped over his left shoulder and across his lap. The low polos on top of his his curly hair probably identifies him as Serapis. His right hand is held over a smiling animal, perhaps Cerberus, sitting at his side. To either side stand female figures on molded pedestals. To his right is a wavy-haired veiled woman who also wears a chiton with himation over it. She stands with her weight on her right leg and with her left leg bent, the tips of her shoes peeking out from beneath the chiton. She holds an object in her lowered left hand, perhaps a grain ear, which would identify her as Demeter. Although her right arm is broken off, it was raised to grasp a torch or sceptre. To the left of the central figure is another wavy-haired woman who wears a diaphanous short-sleeved chiton with an overgarment tied between her breasts in an Isis knot. She holds a large cornucopiae in her left hand and rests her lowered right on a large object, perhaps a rudder. With the Isis knot and cornucopiae she is probably to be identified as Isis-Fortuna.
Parallels: See a similar limestone representation in the Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, illustrated in J.J. Herrmann, Jr., “Demeter-Isis or the Egyptian Demeter? A Graeco-Roman Sculpture from an Egyptian Workshop in Boston,” JDAI 114 (1999), p. 85, fig. 16.
Demeter and Isis were frequently paired in antiquity, suggesting they had a special relationship, and many of these representations also included an enthroned Serapis between them. In such cases, Demeter usually appears at the god’s right and Isis at his left, as here. The two goddesses were seen as cultural equivalents, the manifestation of the same goddess within two different cultures. Thus Herrmann suggests that this is not really a triad so much as a statement of this duality. This observation is supported by representations similar to ours, but which include Harpocrates as the third member of the triad: see a marble relief from the Via della Conciliazione, Rome, in the Capitoline Museum (inv. 4371), published by Herrmann, p. 83, fig. 15.
Ex private American collection, Santa Monica, California. Some light pink pigment still remaining on surface. Sharp details, deeply cut and well executed. Intact. Very rare.
$22,000
15A022
THREE TEXTILE SQUARES
Egypt, Coptic, early Christian period, 7th–8th century A.D. Largest height: 16.5 cm (6.5 in)
Smallest height: 12.7 cm (5 in) These three colorful squares share many features that suggest they may have formed part of the same larger composition. Each is framed by a Greek wave pattern within which are roundels, five on a side for the larger square and four on a side for the two smaller. The corner roundels show a duck on a yellow ground, the others a whirlygig on a red ground. The central panel of each of the smaller squares features a pair of birds flanking a tree of life, framed by a red octagon with four green tendrils that fill the corners of the yellow ground. The largest square also has a central red octagon, divided into two zones. In the lower zone are two ducks flanking a tree whose horizontal boughs form a ground line for a caped figure seated above. The four corners of the yellow ground are ornamented with patterns suggesting an aquatic environment.
Parallels: for somewhat similar designs and weaving techniques, see Nancy Arthur Hoskins, The Coptic Tapestry Album and the Archaeologist of Antionoe, Albert Gayet (Seattle, 2004), no. 83. Intact medallions illustrating fine Coptic textile art.
$4,500
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