Details

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]

Provenance

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

Literature

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.

Footnotes

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.