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LOT 0516
Egyptian Coptic Tunic Tablion Textile Fragment with Image of a Servant
CIRCA 4TH CENTURY A.D.
3 3/4 x 3 3/4 in. (3.05 grams, 95 x 95 mm).
Comprising a tablion in linen and wool, showing a figure of a man clad in tunica paragaudata inside a roundel, carrying hunting cages, lily flowers in each corner. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.
Cf. Del Francia Barocas, L., Museo dell'Alto Medioevo, Roma, I materiali Copti, p.88, nos.7 A-B, for a similar textile.
FootnotesThe scene may depict a servant of some patrician engaged in hunting activities. Of particular note is the man's tunic, decorated with clavi, orbiculi, and segmenta.
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LOT 0516
Egyptian Coptic Tunic Tablion Textile Fragment with Image of a Servant
Estimate £40 - 60€46 - 70 (for guidance only)$54 - 81 (for guidance only)
Opening Bid
£5 (EUR 6; USD 7) +BP*
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Egyptian Turquoise Blue Glazed Faience Amulet of Taweret
Late Period, circa 664-332 B.C.Estimate: £600 - 800 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Amuletic pendant with the deity's characteristic hybrid animal elements, dominated by its hippopotamus head, with a plain dorsal pillar with a loop. 16.58 grams, 61 mm
Received as a gift from archaeologist Cyril Aldred, April 1970, when expecting their son Rupert. From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s. Accompanied by an old handwritten information card by Peter Clayton, collection no.124.
Taweret is an ancient Egyptian goddess associated with fertility, childbirth, motherhood, and protecting women during pregnancy and labour. She is depicted as a composite being with animal features and stands out as one of the most distinctive and striking deities in the Egyptian pantheon. Taweret’s name derives from the Egyptian word for "great" or "large" (tꜣwꜣrt), emphasising her formidable and protective nature. Cyril Aldred (1914-1991) was a British Egyptologist and art historian who served at the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, from 1937 until his retirement in 1974. He published widely on Egyptian art, including Old Kingdom Art in Ancient Egypt (1949) and Akhenaten, Pharaoh of Egypt (1968), and became a leading authority on Amarna Period art, notably through his 1973 Brooklyn Museum exhibition catalogue, Akhenaten and Nefertiti. -
Egyptian Papyrus Fragments in Display Stand
Demotic, 300 B.C.-300 A.D.Estimate: £50 - 70 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Irregular papyrus fragments with traces of Demotic and Greek script; mounted in a protective acrylic display. 80 grams total, 16 cm including stand
with a privately curated collection, 1980s-early 2000s. From the private collection and estate of Christine Simons (1943-2025), West Midlands, UK. -
Egyptian Fragmentary Granite Head of a Pharaoh
Middle Kingdom, circa late 12th-13th Dynasty, circa 1860-1649 B.C.Estimate: £400 - 600 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
With nemes ribbed headdress, large forward-facing ears, and a largely absent face. 406 grams, 96 mm
Acquired March 1965. From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s. Accompanied by an old handwritten information card by Peter Clayton, collection no.110.
Dark, hard stones were favoured for royal statuary in the late Middle Kingdom. The internal treatment of the forward-facing ears and the markings of the nemes are comparable to those of more complete royal heads from this period (cf. Bourriau, J., Pharaohs and Mortals. Egyptian art in the Middle Kingdom, Cambridge, 1988, p. 38, no. 32, for a portrait head of Amenemhat III).
