Egyptian Faience Cylinder Seal with Geometric Decoration

Accessory from a statue, S-curved with braid detailing to the surface and coiled end; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 372 grams total, 14.3 cm high including stand



Jean P. Bourgis, Beaulieu Sur-Mer, France; acquired 1980.

Applied black pigment to the wig, eyes, two hoes, seed bag at the reverse, and a vertical panel of hieroglyphic text on the lower body with the dedication: 'The Osiris, the Priest of Amun Mi, true of voice'. 132 grams, 11.8 cm



Probably from a priests’ cachette at Luxor. Acquired in Egypt by Lieutenant James Alexander Goodman in the 1920s. Thence by descent to his grandson.

Lieutenant Goodman served in the 4th Battalion Welsh Regiment during World War I and saw action in Palestine during the capture of Bethlehem, (for which he won an MC). After the war, he setup a business selling Fordson trucks and tractors in Alexandria, Egypt. A keen antiquarian, he collected ancient objects during his time in Alexandria and when he visited the pyramids at Giza. After his first marriage failed, he returned to the UK in the early 1930s. On his death in 1959, he passed his small collection of Egyptian objects on to his second wife, Ruby Goodman. On Ruby’s death in 1994, they were left to their second daughter, Rosemary Johnson, (née Goodman), and are currently in the possession of her son.

Group of three scarabs, each with a hieroglyphic inscription to the underside. 5.05 grams total, 16-18 mm



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