Egyptian Faience Beaded Four Sons of Horus

Olive-green faience with false beard, tripartite wig, holding a pick, hoe and seed bag; plain dorsal pillar; hieroglyphic inscription down the lower front of the body: (ỉ)mꜢḫ n wsỉr ḫtm-nṯr ḏd-ḫỉỉ ms (n) hr-ỉb for 'Honoured of Osiris, the God's Sealer Djed-khy(?) born (to) Her-ib'; mounted on a custom-made stand. 120 grams total, 12.5 cm including stand



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Sub-rectangular with keyhole-shaped aperture to the lower right edge; low-relief figure in profile wearing a tunic with circular neckline, bobbed hair swept behind the ears, sharp facial features with short goatee beard; bands of vertical fluting. 14.5 kg, 37.5 cm high



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no. 11830-207550.

The features and hairstyle of the figure resemble closely those of Asiatic captives shown on the outer wall of the temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, Egypt. It is likely that the Egyptian artists from the time of Thutmose III onwards had frequent opportunities to observe the foreigners who came, or were brought into Egypt. It is likely that the Egyptian artists were interested in differentiating the various peoples encountered by the armies on their campaigns northward during the New Kingdom. The remains of a circular aperture behind the figure probably indicates that the slab was re-used as a grindstone or a door pivot in ancient times.

With detailed ribbing to the carapace, legs and mouth; underside with central ribbed loop; old inked collector's reference 'E.45'. 4.18 grams, 27 mm



Collected between the 1950s-1990s. Ex Roger Liechti (1934-2010) collection, Geneva, Switzerland.