LOT 0512

Egyptian Canaanite Limestone Scarab Group

SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-NEW KINGDOM, CIRCA 17TH-12TH CENTURY B.C.

3/8 - 3/4 in. (27.1 grams total, 11-20 mm).

A group of thirteen scarabs with anatomical detailing to the carapace, comprising:
1) two kneeling hawk-headed figures with arms raised praise flank a central Hathoric fetish;
2) two facing falcons adorned with Red Crowns flanked by hieroglyphs, including netjer,hes-jars, and maat feathers;
3) standing human figure holding a staff atop a neb hieroglyph facing a highly stylised crocodile;
4) falcon atop a neb hieroglyph facing a striking cobra with another above;
5) the Re-Horakhty falcon standing before a hes-jar, with cartouche behind containing hieroglyphs and a verticalneb hieroglyph on the left;
6) central motif of a bird atop a neb hieroglyph with a rectangular sign above, a was- sceptre behind, flanked by stylised cobras;
7) falcon wearing the Red Crown atop a shrine with a winged sun disc above, flanked by cobras and Red Crowns;
8) central design consisting of hes-jars, a sun disc, a nub symbol (for gold), nefer signs, a kheper scarab beetle, and lotus flowers, all flanked by a border of en and ro signs;
9) central column of hes-jars, a sun disc, a kha rising sun hieroglyph, and scarab beetle, flanked by lions’ foreparts, Red Crowns, neb and hes-jar signs;
10) standing figure atop a neb hieroglyph holding a flower/branch;
11) hieroglyphs writing ‘Amun beloved of the living Ramesses’;
12) stylised bird with men hieroglyph behind;
13) scarab beetle with sun disc above. [13]

Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Cf. Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Zurich, 2007, pl.106, no.13, for a scarab with a similar arrangement for scarab 1; Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Zurich, 2007, pl.50, no.1, for a scarab with similar longitudinally arranged design to scarab 2; Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Zurich, 2007, pl.99, no.19, for a close parallel to scarab 3; Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Zurich, 2007, pl.98, no.10, for a similar design to scarab 4; Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Zurich, 2007, pl.85, nos.13 and 27, for scarabs with vertical arrangements of a falcon before a cartouche; Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Zurich, 2007, pl.71, no.4, for a scarab with a similar motif to scarab 7; Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Zurich, 2007, pl.84, no.14, for a similar scarab border to scarab 8; Keel, O., Corpus der Stempelsiegel-Amulette ausPalästina/Israel: Von den Anfängen bis zurPerserzeit: Katalog Band III: Von Tell el-Farʿa Nord bis Tell el-Fir, Zurich, 2010, p.23, no.47, for a similar format of design to scarab 9; Keel, O., Corpus der Stempelsiegel-Amulette ausPalästina/Israel: Von den Anfängen bis zurPerserzeit: Katalog Band IV: Von Tel Gamma bis ChirbetHusche, Zurich, 2013, p.81, nos.183-185, for seal impressions produced by similar scarabs to scarab 10; Keel, O., Corpus der Stempelsiegel-Amulette ausPalästina/Israel: Von den Anfängen bis zurPerserzeit: Katalog Band IV: Von Tel Gamma bis ChirbetHusche, Zurich, 2013, p.349, no.418, for a seal with a similar motto to scarab 11; Keel, O., Corpus der Stempelsiegel-Amulette ausPalästina/Israel: Von den Anfängen bis zurPerserzeit: Katalog Band II: Von Bahan bis Tel Eton, Zurich, 2010, p.109, no.28, for a similar design to scarab 12; Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Zurich, 2007, pl.51, no. 61, for a scarab with a similar design to scarab 13.

The popularity of the scarab was so great that many of these scarab designs can be found outside Egypt at sites in the ancient Levant.