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Details
LOT 0049
Egyptian Bronze Figure of Khnum, the Creator God
LATE PERIOD, 664-332 B.C.
8 5/8 in. (9 3/8 in.) (466 grams, 22 cm high (803 grams total, 23.8 cm high including stand)).
A substantial figure of the ram-headed god Khnum advancing, wearing a tripartite wig with low central modius drilled for a separately cast headdress and finely pleated kilt, with ram's horns and eyes recessed for inlay, raised left hand, the right arm along the side; mounted on a custom-made stand.
Provenance
With Stendahl Art Gallery, Los Angeles, by at least circa 1950s, accompanied by an inventory card #39, with a matching number on the original base, and a photograph.
Private collection, Hollywood, California, acquired from the above, circa 1950s.
Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00256888.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no. 13240-251804.
Literature
Cf. Roeder, G., Ägyptische Bronzefiguren II, Berlin, 1956, pl. 72a, for a closely comparable example in Toronto (acc. no. 948.10.2).
Footnotes
The god Khnum (or Khnemu), the 'Moulder', was one of the earliest gods of Egypt, worshipped especially at Philae and Elephantine, both in Nubia. He was thought to have made mankind out of clay on a potter's wheel. It was Khnum who helped Isis to gather the severed fragments of the body of the god Osiris and reassemble them. He was considered the father of the gods, along with Amun-Ra and Ptah.
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