Egyptian Faience Amulet in the Shape of a Striding Monkey

LATE PERIOD, 664-332 B.C.

2 1/4 in. (5 3/8 in.) (68.9 grams total, amulet: 57 mm, 13.5 cm high including stand).

Formed as a striding African savannah monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops), or grivet, with human proportions but monkey hair texture; long arms hanging close to the body, hands extended downward; an incised belt at the waist; a suspension loop at the reverse (repaired); with a custom-made stand.

Provenance

Private collection of an English amateur archaeologist (1849-1927), thence by descent.
with Bonhams Auction, 5 October 2011, no.360.
Thereafter, private collection of Erika (1934-2025) and Jakob (1927-2025) Binkert, Binningen, Switzerland; acquired in 2012 from Jean-David Cahn AG, exhibition Aegyptiaca, Basel.
Thence by descent.

Literature

Cf. Reisner, G.A., Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire, Nos.12528-13595, Vol. II, Amulets, Cairo, 1958, pls. II and XXI, no. 12575, for the type.

Footnotes

In the minds of the ancient Egyptians, male monkeys' behaviour may have linked them to masculinity, suggesting that, when worn as an amulet, they could have served a magical role in the reproductive cycle, facilitating birth in this life and rebirth in the afterlife. Alternatively, the prolonged care that females provide for their offspring may have linked the monkey with maternal protection and fertility. These associations may have been reinforced here by the monkey’s greenish faience, which symbolised renewal.

CONDITION

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LOT 0050