Egyptian Decorated Wooden Comb

Comprising four necklace strings with tubular and annular beads. 23 grams total, 72-95 cm long



From an old English deceased estate. Acquired on the London art market in the early 1990s. Property of a London, UK, collector.

Modelled in the half-round on a flat background as a bust of a woman with stern expression, dressed in a tunic emphasising the rounded shape of the bosom, and a mantle worn on the shoulders descending to the arms; beaded collar to the chest and detailed head-covering; significant remains of polychrome (red, black, and traces of blue) on the face, clothing and hair; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 6.77 kg, 27 x 19.5 cm



From the collection of Nicolas Koutoulakis, Paris-Geneva, 1967. Ex Barbier-Mueller, Geneva, Switzerland. with Boisgirad, Arts D'Orient, 16 November 2007, no.88. Acquired on the French art market in 2007. European private collection. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Boisgirad, Arts D'Orient catalogue pages. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12065-218189.

The base, back and sides are flat and rough-hewn: it is possible that it served as a funerary stele, perhaps placed as a “lid” of a niche or a loculus. The Egyptian stelae and statues found at the site of Oxyrhynchos (present-day Benhasa) provide the best parallels for the style that characterises this image. These are most often funerary works showing men, women or children (stelae in very high-relief and statues) which are still little known - and even the chronology of which is subject of discussion: current opinion one inclines towards an earlier dating, between the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., rather than the Coptic period which was previously favoured. In fact these figures, which are devoid of the attributes linked to Christian iconography, generally hold or carry objects which relate to "classical" cults (ie. Isis). Despite a certain naivety of the work, typical of Egyptian sculptures from this region, the woman depicted on this stele certainly belonged to the high contemporary nobility as is evidenced by the richness of her well-pleated clothing and the abundance of adornment, comprising a large necklace with two rows of pearls and some brooches; likewise, the hairstyle, organised in small curls and spiral locks, is worthy of a high-ranking personage.

Inscribed for Ir-nu; with carefully modelled face, large eyes and unnaturally large ears, wearing a neck-strap, a long tripartite wig with incised striations and a broad three-band collar; holding a pick in his left hand, a hoe in the right and a seed bag hanging over the left shoulder; the unusual position of the hands opposed on the chest; the text beginning in the vertical column running down the front of the figure, continuing in five horizontal bands with pale red-ochre pigment colouring to the top, middle and bottom bands; the same pigment used to colour the implements and also alternates with blue striations of the wig, the neck strap and details of the collar also in blue; the inscription from the Book of the Dead Chapter 6, reading: (Vertical column:) 'The illuminated one, the Osiris' (Horizontal rows:) 1) Ir-nu, true of voice, he says: O, this shabti 2) if one is counted, if one is reckoned to do the work 3) [to do all that is to be done in] the god’s land, to cultivate the riparian lands, transport by boat 4) [sand of] the west to the east, to act 5) at any time, to serve there (you) shall say true of voice(?). 1.4 kg total, 28.4 cm high including stand



Carieau family collection, Belgium, acquired in 1952. Ex Maspero collection, Paris, 1963. Acquired from a private European collection, in 1978. Accompanied by a copy of a technical report by Edmund S. Meltzer Ph.D. Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12080-217053.