Egyptian Bronze Atef Crown Feather From a Life-Sized Statue

LATE PERIOD, CIRCA 664-332 B.C.

13 1/4 in. (1.2 kg total, 33.5 cm high including stand).

The ostrich feather with deep recessed cells, likely once inlaid, and a tapering mounting lug to one side; mounted on a custom-made display stand; remnants of gilding.

Provenance

Seward Kennedy collection, acquired 1960s.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11840-207822.

Literature

Cf. The Brooklyn Museum, accession number 53.76.2, for a broadly similar object; Tribally, E., The Bronze Figurines of the Petrie Museum from 2000 BC to AD 400, London, 2018, pp.288-290, for similar examples.

Footnotes

This large feather would have been attached to a wooden statue of Osiris. The Atef crown identified Osiris, god of the underworld, in Ancient Egyptian symbolism. The two ostrich feathers adorning the crown represent truth, justice, morality, equilibrium and the cult centre of Osiris in Abydos. The ostrich feather was also associated with Ma'at.

CONDITION

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LOT 0019