Egyptian Faience Bead Necklace String

Four-stranded designer necklace composed of beads of mainly annular and tubular types. 21 grams, 67 cm



Acquired before 1979. From the private collection of Mr F.A., South Kensington, London, UK; thence by descent 2014. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

For thousands of years, artisans in Egypt created vibrant ceramics to echo the beauty of rare jewels. These ornaments were created with almost every material, colour, and texture imaginable and they come from across Egypt and beyond: vibrant blue lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, glossy black obsidian from Turkey, and aqua-green turquoise from the Sinai. They were worn in life and, after death, they served as precious ornamentation for mummies.

Restrung; a netted beadwork panel of annular and tubular glazed composition beads in blues, greens, black, cream and red-brown colours, depicting a mummy face mask with false beard, a scarab with extended wings below, the 'Four Sons of Horus’ beneath the scarab, joined together with areas of open netting of tubular beads. 145 grams, 32 cm high



Acquired 1990s. Ex Mariaud des Serres, Paris, France. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The 'Four Sons of Horus' protected the internal organs of the deceased. Depicted from left to right: the falcon-headed Qebhesenuef protected the intestines; human-headed Imsety, the liver; baboon-headed Hapi, the lungs; jackal-headed Duamutef, the stomach.

Wearing a broad collar and a stylised scarab on top of the head, elongated arms resting on the lower part of his protruding abdomen. 10.8 grams, 43 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Herodotus mentions Pataikos as a dwarf-like representation of Ptah, although the ancient Egyptian name of the god remains unclear. These diminutive amulets symbolise Ptah’s immense magical power, which served to protect the wearer from dangerous creatures such as snakes and crocodiles. The role of the deity in the funerary sphere is explained in Spell 164 of the Book of the Dead, where a Pataikos is used to protect the deceased's heart from enemy attacks and the putrefaction of the body.