Details

LOT 0038

Egyptian Bronze Figure of Horus Standing on an Oryx

LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.

9 in. (1.1 kg total, 23 cm high including stand).

Standing falcon-headed deity with eyes inlaid in gold, wearing the traditional shendyt kilt, a tripartite wig topped by the double crown (pa-sekhemty) fronted by a uraeus, as worn by Egyptian pharaohs, and a wesekh collar; the figure depicted striding forward, with the position of the left arm and drilled hand indicating that it originally held the shaft of a sceptre or a weapon; the right hand also drilled to hold an attribute; the rectangular base featuring a low-relief depiction of an oryx beneath the god’s feet, the four sides of the base bear a line of hieroglyphic invocation giving the name of the deity represented by the statuette and those of the dedicator and his family; two tenons on underside for attachment; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Provenance

with Sakae Art Gallery, Nagoya, Japan, 1981.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Alberto Pollastrini.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13161-248074.

Published

Small is Beautiful: The Art of Sculpture; Christie's, South Kensington, 6-20 October 2015, no.24.

Literature

For comparison, see an Egyptian bronze Horus of Hebenu standing atop a bound oryx from the Recanati Collection, Christie’s, New York, 26 January 2023, no.20; further parallels in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 45.2.11), Baltimore (Walters Art Museum, 54.1013), and Cairo (CG 60359) are discussed by Hill, M., 'Small Divine Statuettes Outfitting Religion,' in Masson-Bergoff, A. (ed.), Statues in Context: Production, Meaning and (Re)-uses, Leuven, 2019, pp.35-49; Daressy, G., Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire N° 38001-39384 Statues de divinités, Cairo, 1906, p.161 (no.38618), pl. XXXIV, for a similar example.

Footnotes

The hieroglyphic inscription surrounding the base is worn and difficult to interpret. Based on the formulas preserved on similar statuettes, a tentative interpretation of its meaning can be proposed. The text begins with the customary formula ḏd mdw, meaning “words to be spoken,” followed by the hieroglyph of a falcon, indicating that the deity addressed is Horus. The following signs are unclear, making it hard to identify which specific form of Horus is meant, possibly Horus of Hebenu or Horus the Elder. The formula continues with a plea for the god to grant the dedicator life, prosperity, health, longevity, and a good old age. The inscription ends with the name of the offerer: “Pa-iu, son of Pa-di-Aset; his mother Ta-heret; and his wife Aset, justified.”