Egyptian Blue-Glazed Faience White Lotus Chalice

With detailing to the carapace, the underside divided into four registers, the top and bottom with a winged Horus plaque, one register with a winged scarab flanked by two falcons, the register below with lying sphinxes flanking an ankh; pierced longitudinally. 9.7 grams, 27 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Seated nude statuette of Harpocrates, with legs together and left arm by his side, right arm bent across the chest with forefinger raised to his lips, wearing a nemes headdress with uraeus on the front and a bold sidelock on the right side, surmounted by an elaborate hem-hem crown consisting of three conical atef crowns each topped with a sun disc, with an ostrich plume to the side of the outermost, and flanked by two uraei with sun discs, all supported on two horizontal ram's horns; semi-naturalistic anatomical detailing; feet resting on an integral square plinth, mounted on a wooden stand. 584 grams, 18.5 cm



Ex pre-war collection, Switzerland. Private collection, Europe. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00075707. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12371-226682.

Harpocrates is the Greek rendering of the Egyptian Hor-pa-khered, which translates as 'Horus the Child'. This refers to Horus as the divine infant of Isis and Osiris. Statuettes of Harpocrates could provide the dedicator with the same protection that Isis gave her beloved son.

Modelled seated on a tongue-shaped base, with facial detailing and suspension loop to the back. 1.57 grams, 12 mm



From an early 20th century collection.

The cat was sacred to Bastet, a protective mother goddess and the daughter of the sun god Re. Amulets provided the wearer with the goddess's protection.