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_900x900.jpg "Egyptian Black Hardstone Sphinx")
_200x200.jpg "Egyptian Black Hardstone Sphinx")
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LOT 0473
Egyptian Black Hardstone Sphinx
LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 500-31 B.C.
2 in. (74 grams total, 50 mm long including base).
An Egyptian or Graeco-Roman hardstone female sphinx modelled in the round, sitting on a sub-rectangular base, her hair tied in a bun on the top of her head, circular socket to the top face behind the head; mounted on a custom-made antique wooden display base.
ProvenanceFrom Saqqara in the late 1960s.
With John Cummings, Lincolnshire, UK, 1990s.
Acquired 20 May 1997.
Property of a South Oxfordshire private collector.
Accompanied by an original invoice no.6469 dated 20 May 1997.
Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
Cf. a heavily worn steatite(?) winged sphinx, dated to 90-10 B.C., was found at Meroe and is now in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, inv.no.22-1-609.
FootnotesThis type of sphinx amulet is quite rare in Egypt, for instance, the vast output and variety of amulets identified from the Late Period industrial-scale workshops at Naukratis does not include three-dimensional winged sphinxes, only their image impressed in scarabs, suggesting that this example may have been an import and/or once the possession of a Greek person in Egypt.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Egyptian Painted Wooden Mask
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,000
A wooden mask with remains of polychrome painted detailing, depicting the large part of a face with eye detailing and remains of segmented headwear; old collection number 'E.352' and a later suspension loop to the reverse. 283 grams, 23.5 cm high
Ex Roger Liechti collection, Geneva, Switzerland. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11606-198998. -
Egyptian Bull-Headed Apis Shabti Head
New Kingdom, Ramesside Period, 1295-1069 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,690
A glazed composition shabti fragment representing the head of a bull surmounted by a sun-disc between its horns, wearing a lappet wig and with human arms crossed over the chest; the missing lower portion continued the shape of a mummiform human body; the back of the figure flat and bearing faint traces of inscription, the opening begins with a common shabti introduction which appears to be followed (as would be expected) by the name of syncretic deity Osiris Apis. 34 grams, 60 mm
Acquired early 1990s. Ex private American collection; thence by descent. Private collection since 1998. Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
The figure comes from the catacombs at Saqqara where the sacred Apis bulls were buried, known today as the Serapeum. The Apis bull was associated principally with the gods Ptah, patron deity of Memphis, and Osiris, and when one died it was afforded the kind of lavish burial befitting a pharaoh. All bull-headed shabtis date to the 19th and 20th Dynasties and were left as offerings beside the huge granite sarcophagi of the deified bulls. These shabtis were among hundreds of objects recovered from the catacombs by Auguste Mariette during his excavations there between 1850-1853. The Musée du Louvre in Paris holds the largest collection of artefacts from the Serapeum outside Egypt, including around 120 Apis shabtis. They reveal that the this fragment with its sun-disc is from a rare variant of this shabti type; just 5 of the Louvre examples have sun-discs (S 1823, N 5234 51-54), the remaining shabtis have a bull’s head with short stubby horns and no sun-disc. -
Egyptian Faience Figure of Sekhmet
Late New Kingdom, 1350-1070 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £975
A glazed composition figure of the goddess Sekhmet advancing with feline head and sun-disc headdress; dorsal pillar and rectangular base; repaired. 19.8 grams, 86 mm high
Acquired early 1990s. Ex private American collection; thence by descent. Private Swiss collection since 1998.
