Details

LOT 0005

Egyptian Bronze Per-Medjed Oxyrhynchus Fish

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

4 1/8 in. (271 grams, 10.6 cm).

The fish displayed atop a shrine on a hollow rectangular base; attached by ventral and pectoral fins, remains of forked tail; dorsal ridge; tapering nose; recessed circular eyes; horned sun disc headdress with coiled cobra to base; figure of a worshipping priest kneeling beneath.

Provenance

Acquired in Europe before 1990.
Private collection, Europe.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11833-206796.

Literature

Cf. The British Museum, museum number EA65682, for a comparable example; Tiribilli, E., The bronze figurines of the Petrie Museum from 2000 BC to AD 400, London, 2018, p.229, for discussion.

Footnotes

Per-Medjed is the ancient Egyptian name of the main cult centre of this type of fish (Mormyrus kannume). The Greeks called the cult centre Oxyrhynchus Polis (meaning 'Town of the sharp-snouted fish'). In ancient Egyptian religion, these sacred fish were believed to have consumed the penis of the god Osiris after his brother Set had dismembered and scattered his body. Statuettes such as this are associated with Isis and Hathor.