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LOT 0002
Egyptian Bifacial Magical Stela with Bes
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 280-180 B.C
4 1/2 in. (450 grams total, 11.6 cm high including stand).
Upper portion of an arch-top limestone stele fragment with two dressed faces; the obverse lunette features a winged sun disc flanked by uraei and two partial rows of incised pseudo-hieroglyphs below; the reverse displays the head of the god Bes in high relief, with traces of the head of the young Horus immediately below, who would have been depicted grasping the two partially preserved snakes and a scorpion carved in raised relief to the right; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceFrossart Collection, France, by the 19th century.
Private collection, London, UK.
Cf. Sternberg-El Hotabi, H., Untersuchungen zur Überlieferungsgeschichte der Horusstelen (2 parts), Ägyptologische Abhandlungen 62, Wiesbaden, 1999, part 2, pp. 25, 139, pl. XVIII, for a similarly arranged cippus, now in Edinburgh (inv. no. A.1955.179).
FootnotesAlthough fragmentary, this stela is easily recognisable as a Horus cippus or magical stela. They were used to heal ailments caused by snake or scorpion venom. Ancient Egyptians believed that water poured over these cippi would turn into a healing liquid that the afflicted could drink or apply to their bodies.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0002
Egyptian Bifacial Magical Stela with Bes
Estimate £500 - 700€580 - 810 (for guidance only)$680 - 950 (for guidance only)
Opening Bid
£250 (EUR 290; USD 338) +BP*
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Egyptian Faience Shabti
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Estimate: £30 - 40 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Plano-convex in section with moulded piriform face and wig, tools in the crossed hands, accompanied by an old handwritten note 'faience. Ceramic composed of crushed quartz or quartz sand with small amounts of lime and plant ash or naron. Coated with a bright blue or green glaze or soda[...]' and to verso 'Late period 700-400 BC Ex Margaret Seton-Jones from Flinders Petrie'. 10.5 grams, 49 mm
Ex Margaret Seton-Jones from Flinders Petrie. From the private collection of a Canadian gentleman living in Essex, UK, formed since the 1920s-circa 1990. Property of an Essex lady until the late 1990s; thence by descent. From the private collection of an Essex gentleman since the late 1990s. Accompanied by a handwritten slip with description and provenance. -
Egyptian Silver Poppy Amulets
New Kingdom-Late Period, 1550-332 B.C.Estimate: £50 - 70 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Matched pair of amulets with a long cylindrical neck and a spherical body, with a ribbed suspension loop above. 2.12 grams total, 15-16 mm
Ex London, UK, collection, 1920s-1940s. Accompanied by a previously illustrated catalogue card with provenance.
Amulets in the form of poppies were used to heal and alleviate pain. These types of amulets were also linked to Osiris, the Egyptian deity of agriculture, death, and the afterlife. -
Egyptian Mixed Faience Amulet Collection
Late Period-Ptolemaic Period, circa 664-30 B.C.Estimate: £200 - 300 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £100
Comprising: a face bead; two rectangular wedjat-eye beads with black detailing; an amulet depicting the Deshret crown of Lower Egypt; two seated baboon amulets; an amulet of a standing figure, possibly Sekhmet; a scaraboid with a small raised head. 4.93 grams total, 10-20 mm
From a 20th century UK collection.
