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_900x900.jpg "Egyptian Faience Bead with Cartouches of Pharaoh Amasis")
_200x200.jpg "Egyptian Faience Bead with Cartouches of Pharaoh Amasis")
.jpg "Egyptian Faience Bead with Cartouches of Pharaoh Amasis")
LOT 0062
Egyptian Faience Bead with Cartouches of Pharaoh Amasis
LATE PERIOD, 26TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 664-525 B.C.
1 in. (4.96 grams, 26 mm).
Square in plan with transverse piercing, obverse with three panels: the left bearing a cartouche surmounted by two plumes containing the pharaoh’s birth name, i͗Ꜥms sꜢ nt (Ahmose, son (of) Neith); the right, a similar cartouche containing his throne name, ẖnm-i͗b-RꜤ (He who embraces the heart of Re); the centre inscription reads, ḥpw Ꜥnḫ sꜢ ḥpt(?) (the living Apis, son [of] Hepet?) two with a cartouche for Amasis, text to the centre.
ProvenanceEx private collection, Germany.
with Galerie Günter Puhze, Freiburg, Germany, prior to 2003.
Private collection, acquired on the German art market, 2004.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13186-249203.
Cf. Zecchi, M., The Naos of Amasis, Leiden, 2019, fig.III.8, for a cartouche of Amasis.
FootnotesThe three-column text arrangement closely resembles that of another rectangular spacer bead, engraved with Ahmose II’s cartouches flanking a central inscription, now held at The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (accession number 42.377). Although the central inscription differs in content, the bead’s connection to the Apis bull is shown on the opposite side, where the sacred animal is depicted.
Amasis II (Egyptian: Ahmose II), fifth king of the 26th Dynasty (Saite Period), reigned c. 570–526 BC. Rising to power after overthrowing Apries, Amasis presided over a period of renewed stability and prosperity in Late Period Egypt. His reign is characterised by administrative reform, economic growth, and an active foreign policy, including close diplomatic and commercial relations with the Greek world, evidenced by Greek mercenaries in Egyptian service and the granting of Naukratis as a trading enclave. Amasis undertook extensive temple building and restoration programmes throughout Egypt, particularly at Sais, Memphis, and in Upper Egypt, consciously aligning himself with earlier pharaonic traditions. His royal titulary appears widely on monuments, scarabs, amulets, and architectural elements, often reflecting an emphasis on divine legitimacy and Maʿat. Amasis died shortly before the Persian conquest of Egypt under Cambyses II; his reign represents the final florescence of independent Egyptian kingship before Achaemenid rule.
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LOT 0062
Egyptian Faience Bead with Cartouches of Pharaoh Amasis
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
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Egyptian Hardstone Necklace with Amulets
New Kingdom, 1550-1295 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £572
Spherical, bicone, and tubular stone beads with a vessel, and two cornflower amulets, restrung with a modern clasp fitting. 17.45 grams, 42 cm
Ex London, UK, collection, 1990s-2000s. -
Egyptian Serpentine Shabti for King Senkamenisken
Nubia, Napatan Period, 643-623 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £21,450
Mummiform figure wearing a braided beard with chin-straps in relief, broad collar visible between the lappets of the nemes headdress adorned with a double uraeus, the crossed hands holding a hoe and pick, with a seed bag over the left shoulder, his broad face with straight nose, wide-set eyes and large ears, six horizontal lines of inscription, giving a version of Chapter 6 from the Book of the Dead; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 659 grams total, 21 cm including stand
J.J. Klejman, Madison Avenue, New York, USA, 1960s. UK private collection, acquired from the above, 1960s. Bluett and Sons, London, 1979. Sheppard & Cooper, UK, private collection, 1980s. Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani, the 'Princely' private collection, UK. Acquired from the above in 2017. with Sotheby's, London, 5 July 2024, no.126. Accompanied by a copy of the Bluett and Sons invoice, 22 January 1979. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13273-254064.
Of the 1277 shabtis of Senkamenisken found in the king's burial chamber of his pyramid tomb at Nuri (Pyramid 3), 410 are made of serpentine, the remaining 867 of faience. The inscription reads: 'The illuminated one, the Osiris, the good god, lord of the two lands, Sekheper[en]re, true of voice, He says: "O this shabti, if anyone summons the Osiris Senkamenisken, true of voice, in order to do any work which is to be done in the God's Land (i.e. necropolis), to cultivate the fields, to irrigate the canals, to carry sand from the east to the west and vice versa, 'Here I am', you shall say". -
Large Egyptian Bronze Figure of Osiris with Lapis Lazuli Inlays
Late Period, 664-525 B.C.Estimate: £80,000 - 100,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £40,000
Standing mummiform figure of Osiris wrapped in a body-hugging shroud; the figure wearing a tall Hedjet crown – representing the central element of Osiris’s lateral plume-flanked Atef crown; three vertical slots visible on either side of the preserved crown represent the mortices for the attachment of the separately cast plumes; a raised uraeus at the front of the crown, with a body coil on each side and a slightly undulating tail extending vertically up the crown; the broad face rendered with deeply recessed eyebrows, one still retaining a portion of lapis-lazuli inlay, almond-shaped eyes deeply recessed for inlay, a straight nose, and a small, closed mouth; once inlayed chin straps run from the temples to the chin, where a separately cast divine beard is attached, with deep chevron-like recesses, some retaining traces of blue inlay; arms crossed over the chest, with the hands emerging from the wrappings to hold the god’s traditional attributes – the crook (heka) and flail (nekhakha) – of which only the lowest portions are visible; holes for insertion of the separately fashioned upper parts present at the top of the fists; mounted on wooden base and supplied with custom fitted case. 19 kg total, the case: 89.5 x 36 x 41 cm (10.65 kg total, 69.5 cm high including stand)
with Seiyou Kobijyutsu, Osaka, Japan, 20th century. The acquisition was facilitated by Ichikawa Kiyoshi (September 1897–1976), a prominent consultant to the firm at the time. Private Japanese collection, Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan, acquired in the 1960s by a medical doctor residing in Kumamoto, reportedly on the recommendation of Ichikawa Kiyoshi; thence by descent within the family until 2023. Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. The sculpture is accompanied by a Japanese wooden fitted box bearing the signature and seal (hanko) of Ichikawa Kiyoshi, supporting the attribution and authenticity. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13192-250114.
As the principal god of the underworld, Osiris was worshipped continuously for more than 2,500 years, from the late Old Kingdom to the Roman period. The deity played a central role in Egyptian funerary belief, and his consistently mummiform imagery became widely incorporated into both royal and non-royal iconography. A major phase in the development of his cult occurred during the Middle Kingdom, when Abydos in Upper Egypt emerged as the principal cult centre and an important pilgrimage site for both royal and non-elite individuals. By the Late Period, the influence of the Osirian cult is clearly reflected in the material record, most notably in the widespread distribution of bronze statuettes across temple sites in Egypt. While such objects are often interpreted as expressions of personal devotion, their standardised forms and large-scale production may equally point to more formalised, institutionally mediated ritual practices.
