Egyptian Carnelian Amulet Group

A section of woven linen textile featuring lines of neat hieratic text in black. 5.61 grams, 16 cm



From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

From the fifth century B.C., mummy wrappings for the affluent frequently display lines of hieratic script—a cursive variant of Egyptian hieroglyphs used for both daily and religious writings. These often include excerpts from funerary texts like the Book of the Dead, along with prayers and invocations designed to safeguard and guide the deceased in the afterlife. These texts, sometimes accompanied by vignettes, were inscribed directly on the linen strips before or during the mummification process. Some of these bandages could be remarkably long; one example from Brussels, measuring only 6.2 cm in width, spans an incredible 26 metres.

The head of goddess Bastet modelled in the round with alert ears and eyes, fine whisker detailing to the gently elongated muzzle, hair detailing to the inner edges of the ears and the lower outer edges pierced to accept separate earrings, incised scarab on the top of the head. 92.5 grams, 58 mm



Elizabeth Helene Demarest Osten Driesen (1892-1931). Given as a gift to her granddaughter, Lady Annabel Sutherland, by descent in the late 1960s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12762-237137. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

In ancient Egypt, the cat was venerated as the sacred animal of the goddess Bastet, whose principal cult centre was Bubastis in the Nile Delta. Although cats were once part of folk practice, their veneration as part of formal cults spread across Egypt during the Late Period. Bastet was closely linked to lion-headed goddesses like Sekhmet, Tefnut, and Pakhet, and the cat itself became associated with solar imagery: the Book of the Dead portrays the sun god as a Great Cat vanquishing Apophis beneath the sacred Ished Tree. The cat could also embody the Eye of the Sun or, more often in Bastet’s case, the Eye of the Moon. Mummified cats were frequently dedicated as votive offerings, and some of their feline-shaped coffins were adorned with finely crafted bronze heads to enhance their divine likeness.

Housed in five linen-covered boxes, covering Unas Teti, Memphis, Tombs of the Nobles, Meruruka, Saqqara, general Egyptian sites, jewellery, and architecture etc. 4.4 kg total, 26.5 x 16.5 x 6.5 cm each box



Property of archaeologist Stephanie Gee, N.W. London, UK, 1960s-1980s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Stephanie Gee was a prominent archaeologist who took part in several expeditions in Egypt. She was a trusted assistant to the British-Australian archaeologist Veronica Seton-Williams, who excavated in Egypt, Britain, and the Near East. Stephanie also took part in the Tell El-Farâ'în expeditions of 1965-1968, and assisted Seton-Williams with preparing the 1966 expedition report. Their collaboration continued and Stephanie helped with the manuscript of Seton-Williams’ book ‘The Road to El-Aguzein’, a narrative account of her life that was first published in 1988.