Details

LOT 0023

Egyptian Bronze Enthroned Wadjet

SAITE PERIOD, 664-525 BC

13" (2 kg total, 33cm including stand).

A bronze lioness-headed figure of Wadjet seated on a square-section throne, wearing tripartite wig surmounted by Atef crown consisting of ostrich feathers, horned sun disk and fronted by rearing uraeus; her clenched hands resting on the knees with ankle-length kilt, feet on a square footrest, throne with lateral panels of low-relief scale pattern with incised hieroglyphs representing the Union of the Two Lands; mounted on a custom-made wooden stand.

Provenance

Ex V.G.F. collection, Shelby Township, Michigan; acquired from Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, USA, in 1986; previously with Christie's, London, 13 July 1983, lot 468; formerly in a European private collection, prior to 1983; on loan to Ohio State University, Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, and Fitchbury Art Museum, between 1986-2015; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10119-167436.

Literature

Cf. similar figure in the British Museum (accession number 1992,1110.1) with less elaborate headdress than here.

Footnotes

Wadjet 'the green one' was known to the Greeks as 'Uto'. She was originally the tutelary goddess of the city of Dep which eventually became part of the conurbation called Per-Wadjet ("House of Wadjet"). Wadjet was considered the matron and protector of Lower Egypt, and later the joint protector and patron of all Egypt.

3D Scanned Model

CONDITION