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LOT 0020
Egyptian Bronze Amun-Min-Kamutef Statuette
LATE PERIOD, 664-332 B.C.
8 1/4 in. (538 grams total, 21 cm high including stand).
Modelled in the round as a votive ithyphallic figure wearing a double-plumed crown with a sun disc, holding a flail in his outstretched right hand and his erect phallus in the left; mounted on a custom-made display base.
ProvenanceAcquired on the London art market.
Ex 'K' collection, 1990-2020s.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Cf. The Royal Ontario Museum for a similar figure (inv. no. 910.17.14); cf. Daressy, G., Catalogue général des antiquitéségyptiennes du Musée du Caire N° 38001-39384 Statues de divinités, Cairo, 1906, pl. XXVII, no. 38479, for a similar example.
FootnotesAmun-Min-Kamutef was a syncretic deity combining the attributes of Amun, the supreme god of the Egyptian pantheon, and Min who represents sexual procreation. The iconography of Amun's ithyphallic form Kamutef is essentially that of Min, and serves to emphasise the sexual prowess of the god. Kamutef means 'bull of his mother' and appears to refer both to Amun's sky-goddess mother in her cow form and to the bull's sexual prowess and strength.
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Very Large Egyptian Wooden Head of Osiris
30th Dynasty-Ptolemaic Period, 380-30 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13,000
Carved in the round head with plaster prepared surface; with integral Atef crown ornamented with lateral bronze ostrich plumes and uraeus to the brow; carved facial detailing with broad nose and small mouth; applied bronze braided beard with scrolled tip; ears pierced to accept earrings; mounted on a custom-made stand. 3.62 kg total, 52.5 cm high including stand
Acquired by the family from an antiquities dealer in Egypt, October 1982. Ex Dunkirk Manor, Theescombe, Stroud. Mr F.D. collection, acquired from the above. Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12513-231999. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This head likely originates from a large-scale standing figure of the underworld god Osiris. In contrast to the ubiquitous small bronze Osiris figurines found at cult sites throughout Egypt – which were left by pilgrims as votive offerings – large-scale wooden statues are much rarer. Their scarcity is partly due to the fragile nature of wood, which made such statues more susceptible to decay over time, but also because these larger figures were used in more specialised and exclusive ritual contexts. This is evidenced by the significant discovery of a large wooden Osiris statue in a cache of votive objects at Saqqara, associated with a temple shrine. The find suggests that the sizeable image of Osiris played an important role in religious ceremonies in the temple, where it presumably served as the focus of veneration. The Saqqara cache dates no later than the reign of Nectanebo II (360-343 B.C.), whose temple pavement covered it. However, the exact dating of the wooden statue is less certain, with estimates ranging from the New Kingdom to the 26th Dynasty. -
Egyptian Multi-Stranded Mummy Bead Necklace String
Late Period, 664-525 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
A composition necklace composed of multiple strands of polychrome beads of mainly annular and tubular types. 28 grams total, 82 cm long
Acquired before 1979. From the private collection of Mr F. A., South Kensington, London, UK; thence by descent 2014. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Red and yellow faience were among the new colours appeared in the 18th Dynasty, but they were in use until the Late Period. It was ideally formed from a core of sand and quartz and a vitreous alkaline glaze. It was the preferred medium of Egyptian jewellers even before the First Dynasty, because of its malleability and its ability to imitate other more expensive materials thanks to the colour of the glaze. -
Egyptian Painted Cartonnage Cartouche Fragment
Late-Ptolemaic Period, 664-31 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Two large moulded fragments of cartonnage with polychrome painted decoration; mounted in a glazed frame. 824 grams including frame, 25.2 x 25.2 cm
Ex M.S. Ciappara collection, Norfolk, UK, 1939-1950. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.