Egyptian and Other Faience and Hardstone Bead Collection

A glass or garnet model of a clean-shaven male head with a headdress formed as rope bands; amuletic insert for a piece of jewellery. 12.5 grams, 24 mm high



with HVMC, Hotel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo, 19 January 2022, lot 63. English private collection.

A wooden animal birthing scene composed of three figures: a standing cow or other quadruped giving birth to its young, its head, neck and forelegs emerging from the mother's rear, both with a black and white speckled coat; a standing male figure with articulated arms and pierced hands, wearing a kilt and cropped wig and with stylised facial detailing; a kneeling figure also with articulated arms, open-palm hands, wearing a kilt and cropped wig, stylised facial features; extensive remains of polychrome pigment. 111 grams total, 9.5-16 cm



From an early 20th century Home Counties collection. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11597-199209.

Such models would have been deposited in tombs; the purpose of such a scene was probably to evoke the season of spring, when calves were born, and the floodplain where farmers lived and raised their livestock.

A glazed composition scarab with detailed serrated legs and with a-n-r, nub and nefer signs around a cartouche containing the incomplete name of Thutmose III to the underside; set in a later gold mount for suspension. 2.34 grams, 18 mm

Fine condition.

Acquired 1969-1999. London collection of the late Mr S.M., thence by descent.

The sign groups surrounding the cartouche are indicative of Asiatic scarab production of the Second Intermediate Period, where the craftsmen did not understand the meaning of hieroglyphs and used them for purely decorative reasons. This suggests that either the beetle and sun-disc signs in the cartouche are unintentionally similar to those of Thutmose III, or that this is a later scarab with an inaccurately rendered name of the king