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Ancient Art, Antiquities, Natural History & Coins
Auction Highlights:
Gifted by Herbert Parsons (1870-1940) to his grandson, James Gibson (1926-2013).
Inherited by the vendor and her brother, from their grandfather James Gibson.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.200862.
Cf. Kozloff, A., Animals in Ancient Art, the Leo Mildenberg Collection, pp. 67-68, no. 55, for a similar example.
God of the moon, magic and writing, Thoth could take the form of a baboon or an ibis. In baboon form, he was associated with the animals who rise early in the day, and was thus linked to the sun god, Ra. The dedicatory hieroglyphic inscription on the base of this example includes the di and ankh signs meaning 'give life'.
Acquired on the London art market.
Ex 'K' collection, 1990-2020s.
Cf. The Royal Ontario Museum for a similar figure (inv. no. 910.17.14).
Amun-Min-Kamutef was a syncretic deity combining the attributes of Amun, the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon, and Min who represents sexual procreativity. The iconography of Amun's ithyphallic form Kamutef is essentially that of Min, and serves to emphasise the sexual prowess of the god. Kamutef means 'bull of his mother' and appears to refer both to Amun's sky-goddess mother in her cow form and to the bull's sexual prowess and strength.
Ex old English collection.
Spanish collection, 1980s.
Accompanied by a previous dealer's catalogue and price card (£2,500.00).
Cf. Tiribilli, E., The bronze figurines of the Petrie Museum from 2000 BC to AD 400, (GHP Egyptology 28), London, 2018, p.96, no.126, for similar.
Osiris was the foremost of ancient Egyptian funerary deities and lord of the underworld. Many statuettes of the god were offered in temples dedicated in his name, but have also been discovered in other contexts including animal necropoleis and temples dedicated to other gods.
Acquired in the 1960s.
From the collection of the late Egyptologist Surgeon Commander PHK Gray RN.
From a Surrey, UK, collection.
Accompanied by a scholarly note from Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.202932.
Cf. Barker, G., Preparing for Eternity, Oxford, 2022, p.61, fig.2.31; Taylor, J.H., Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, London, 2001, pp.99-103, for discussion.
Crafted for the tomb to accompany the deceased and provide for him in the afterlife.
Ex Phocion J. Tano, Cairo, Egypt, 1965. Phocion Jean Tano (1898-1972) belonged to a family dynasty who founded and ran one of the oldest antiquities shops in Egypt, located in front of the old Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo.
From a private UK family collection.
Accompanied by an original handwritten and signed card receipt dated 14 April 1965 from Phocion J. Tano Antiquities Gallery, Cairo, Egypt.
Ex Hans Nilson collection.
The names of numerous luminaries of Egyptology of the late 19th and early 20th century found in these documents, besides their significant contributions to our knowledge of ancient Egypt, also held important administrative roles in Egypt's Antiquities Service and the Cairo Museum. They include: Victor Loret (1859-1946), who served as Director General of the Egyptian Antiquities Service from 1897-1899; Émile Brugsch (1842-1930) served as Keeper in the Cairo Museum from 1883-1914; Reginald Engelbach (1888-1946) served as Chief Inspector of Upper Egypt for the Antiquities Service in 1920 and Keeper in the Cairo Museum from 1931-1941; Gustave Lefebvre (1879-1957) served as Inspector of Middle Egypt for the Antiquities Service from 1905-1914 and Keeper in the Cairo Museum from 1926-1928; James Quibell (1867-1935) served as Inspector of the Delta and Middle Egypt for the Antiquities Service from 1899-1904, Luxor 1904-1905, and Saqqara also in 1905. He was Keeper in the Cairo Museum from 1914-1923 and Secretary-General of the Antiquities Department from 1923-1925; Pierre Lacau (1873-1963) served as Director of the Antiquities Service from 1914-1936. When the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922, Lacau ensured that its entire contents were secured for the Cairo Museum (much to the chagrin of Howard Carter and the Earl of Carnarvon); Howard Carter (1874-1939), although famous for discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922, earlier served as Chief Inspector of Antiquities of Upper Egypt from 1899-1905. The name most frequently occurring in the documents is that of Paul Tottenham who served as Advisor to the Ministry of Public Works in Egypt, including a telegram he sent to Howard Carter on 15th February 1923 requesting that he attend a meeting with the Minister (of Public Works), presumably on matters concerning the tomb of Tutankhamun.
Private collection, New York, USA, early 1980s.
Cf. Schneider, H.D., Shabtis. An Introduction to the History of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Statuettes with a Catalogue of the Collection of Shabtis in the National Museum of Antiquities at Leiden, 3 Volumes, Leiden, 1977, Vol. 2, p.211 (no. 5.3.2.25) and Vol. 3, p.76, for another shabti of Ka-nefer.
The inscription informs us that Ka-nefer was a wener- priest and scribe of Ptah. His mother's name was Isit-reshuty. He was buried at Saqqara.
Gifted by Herbert Parsons (1870-1940) to his grandson, James Gibson (1926-2013).
Inherited by the vendor and her brother, from their grandfather James Gibson.
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 03.6.3, for a comparable shabti of this period.
The owner of this shabti (name unclear) was a Hem-Ka priest of Osiris.
Gifted by Herbert Parsons (1870-1940) to his grandson, James Gibson (1926-2013).
Inherited by the vendor and her brother, from their grandfather James Gibson.
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 41.160.127, for a broadly comparable shabti of this period.
with Riyahi Gallery, London, prior to 1996.
Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above, 1 July 1996.
Acquired from the above, 23 December 2010.
Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no 5068.C.V.
Cf. Curtis, J. and Tallis, N. (eds), Forgotten Empire: The world of Ancient Persia, London, 2005, p.145 no.177, for a near-identical gold earring, reputedly from Syria, now in The Louvre Museum, Paris, Department of Oriental Antiquities, inventory number AO 3171.
From an early 20th century collection, Home Counties, UK, 1930-1940s.
Cf. Andrews, C., Amulets of Ancient Egypt, London, 1994, fig.12(d).
Smith family collection, Cambridge, UK since 1949.
Private UK collection since 1978.
Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11033-183985.
Cf. for a near identical example from Memphis and now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, inventory no. 54.395.
The moon god Khonsu (whose name means 'wanderer', referring to the passage of the moon across the sky) is known as a blood-thirsty sky-deity in the Pyramid Texts. In New Kingdom Thebes, however, he was regarded as a far more benevolent deity, being the child of Amun and Mut, and provided with his own temple at Karnak. There, he was considered to control destiny. Khonsu can appear in human form with a side-lock of youth, wearing an enveloping garment, and holding royal regalia, and also as a falcon-headed man with the full moon and crescent new moon headdress, as with this fine example. In his falcon-headed form he frequently holds an ankh symbol and a was-sceptre, for which the hands of this piece were drilled to accept the god's well-known attributes.
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