LOT 0010

Egyptian Bronze Statuette of the God Neferhotep

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 332-30 B.C.

6 3/4 in. (345 grams total, 17.3 cm high including stand).

Neferhotep depicted advancing on a rectangular base, holding in the left hand the was sceptre, topped with the stylised head of an animal linked to the god Seth, with the right arm held rigid by the side with a clenched fist; wearing a Pschent crown with uraeus above the brow, a short, pleated shendyt kilt, and a broad multi-strand collar; the head features a tightly curled wig, false beard, and lentoid wire rims around the eyes; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Private collection of Mrs Bogaert, formed in 1949, Ghent, near Brussels, Belgium.
Ex private collection, London, UK.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13310-258230.

Cf. Daressy, G., Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire N° 38001-39384 Statues de divinités, Cairo, 1906, pl. VI, no. 38071, for a similar example from the Serapeum at Saqqara.

Neferhotep was explicitly recognised as a deity with a cult only from the Late Period, although it may have been understood earlier and later as the incarnation of the youthful divine king, since pharaohs from the 18th Dynasty to the Ptolemaic Period are sometimes depicted wearing the same wig. Neferhotep, whose name translates as 'the perfect one is at peace,' was considered to be the son of Hathor and was venerated at Hu (Diospolis Parva), as well as at Karnak, Dendera, and Behbeit el-Hagar. Provenanced statues of the god originate from the Memphite region.