Details

LOT 2068

Bronze Grand Tour Egyptian Sphinx

ITALY, LATE 19TH CENTURY A.D.

9 7/8 in. (1.44 kg total, 25 wide including stand).

Hollow-formed miniature of a sphinx couchant with forelegs extended, wearing the nemes crown and with tasseled braid placed along the spine; mounted on a wooden display stand.

Provenance

From the private collection of a S.W.
London gentleman, acquired in the 1970s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Footnotes

The most celebrated Sphinx in Egyptian mythology is the monument built near the pyramids as a protective symbol, to wish the pharaoh a peaceful afterlife. It has a leonine body and a human head. The Sphinx could be shown as male or female, depending on the pharaoh or queen it had to protect. The inclusion of sphinxes in temple complexes became a tradition lasting into the Roman period and Late Antiquity. Many pharaohs had their heads carved atop the guardian statues of their tombs, in part to show their close relationship with the powerful solar deity Sekhmet, a lioness.
This cast bronze sphinx is a fine example of neoclassical sculptural art under the influence of Egyptomania and the renewed interest in the culture of ancient Egypt sparked by Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign from 1798. At a time when only few could afford a trip to Egypt during the peak of
Egyptomania contact could be made with Egyptian culture through literature, architecture and art. Particularly influential were Vivant Denon’s Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypte, the Institute of Egypt's Description de l'Égypte, Robert Adams's interior decoration, Verdi’s Aida and the pedestal sphinxes protecting the obelisk of Tuthmosis III (Cleopatra's Needle).