LOT 0061

Egyptian Bronze Kneeling Figure of a King

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

6 1/2 in. (1.62 kg total, 16.7 cm high including stand).

A solid cast statuette modelled in the round as a kneeling pharaoh wearing a thigh-length shendyt kilt, a broad collar and a nemes headdress adorned with a uraeus to the brow; with open hands positioned as though they once held an object, palms facing inward; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Private collection, E.M. (1880-1954), since the 1930s.

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 search certificate no.13196-249244.

Cf. Hill, M., Royal Bronze Statuary from Ancient Egypt: With Special Attention to the Kneeling Pose, Leiden, 2004, p. 173 and pl. 50, for a comparable example dated to the early 26th Dynasty; The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust, 1914.575, for a statuette of a kneeling king from the Graeco-Roman Period.

The figure's overall appearance, particularly the muscular upper body, resembles two kneeling bronze figures – Brooklyn Museum 71.11 and Pennsylvania Museum E.13004 – both bearing the cartouche of 26th Dynasty pharaoh Necho II (610-595 BC). Unlike the varied poses of kneeling stone statues, those in bronze consistently rest on their knees and toes, with heels positioned under their buttocks. Figures with this hand gesture are often thought to have originally held an offering vessel or ritual object. However, none of the existing examples shows signs of having held an object. Instead, the gesture may symbolise both giving and receiving, representing veneration, offering, and a plea for protection to a particular deity.