In baboon form, modelled in the round wearing a lunar disc and seated on a semi-circular base with attachment lug; accompanied by a wooden display base; traces of hieroglyphic inscription around the edge of the base; repaired. 157 grams total, 10.1 cm high including stand

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'.

Modelled in the round as a votive ithyphallic figure wearing a double-plumed crown with a sun disc, holding a flail in his outstretched right hand and his erect phallus in the left; mounted on a custom-made display base. 538 grams total, 21 cm high including stand

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.

Modelled mummiform and seated with arms crossed at chest, holding crook and flail, wearing a false beard and plumed Atef crown with uraeus, cream-coloured inlay to eyes; mounted on a custom-made display base. 160 grams total, 15.3 cm including standlarge chip to outer surface layer to reverse.

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.

The scene comprising: a thick rectangular base with gessoed surface; squatting male figure in a white kilt with modelled hair and painted facial details, the hands drilled to accept the handles of tools; a wooden spit with impaled carcass of a roasting fowl in the left hand; a small fan in the right hand; a squat fire-bowl with rounded rim and recess to the upper edge. 980 grams total, 31 cm wide

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.

Wooden face from a coffin lid, D-shaped in plan with large almond-shaped eyes, holes for mounting pegs; accompanied by the original dealer's ticket from Phocion J. Tano of Cairo with handwritten description and signature 'Small masque of wood of the end of the Saïtic Period some four hundred years B.C. It is found close to the pyramid of Meïdun and it is genuine guaranteed and nothing ticked. It is as is found. Cairo the 14/4/65.'; mounted on a custom-made stand. 357 grams total, 20.8 cm high including stand

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.

Comprising: original typescript (some carbon copies) and manuscript documents in Arabic, French and English relating to Egyptian archaeological sites and matters, including requests for permits to visit sites, together with several telegraph forms including a permission for a visit to the tomb of Tutankhamen on 13 February 1923 and requests for similar permission; together with seven monochrome photographic prints depicting Egyptian sites. 245 grams total, 9.5-30 cm

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.

Modelled mummiform, hands crossed in front of chest holding pick and hoe, seed bag over shoulder, wearing tripartite wig and false beard, T-shaped arrangement of hieroglyphic inscription to the midriff and lower body; plinth base and plain back pillar to reverse. 78 grams, 12.2 cm high

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.

Modelled mummiform with arms crossed over the chest, holding pick and hoe, a column of hieroglyphs with owner and mother's names running vertically down the front of the body, standing on a plinth with blank pillar to reverse; mounted on a wooden display base. 123 grams total, 13 cm high including stand

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.

Modelled mummiform, arms crossed over the chest holding crook and flail, with a blank pillar to reverse; hieroglyphs to the front of the body; remains of glaze; mounted on a wooden display base; repaired. 191 grams total, 17 cm high including stand

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.

Each with bifacial repoussé decoration depicting the Egyptian god Bes controlling two ibexes, above them two geese or storks facing stylised lotus flowers, projecting knops to the perimeter, four loops to the inner edge. 26.73 grams total, 4.7 cm each

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.

Suspension loop to the reverse; Osiris standing wearing the Atef crown, arms folded across the chest holding the crook and flail, regalia of kingship. 8.7 grams, 64 mm

From an early 20th century collection, Home Counties, UK, 1930-1940s.

Cf. Andrews, C., Amulets of Ancient Egypt, London, 1994, fig.12(d).

Standing in advancing pose on a rectangular base; the god modelled with a disk representing the full-moon surmounting a crescent new moon atop his head and fronted by a uraeus, the falcon-head sports a finely striated tripartite wig and with beaded silver wire frames to the (once inlaid) eyes; wearing a broad wesekh collar; the left arm bent and fist drilled to grip a staff, right arm straight to the side with similar drilled fist; pleated shendyt kilt and belt to the hips; mounted on a tiered socle base. 896 grams total, 27 cm including standVery fine condition.

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.