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_900x900.jpg "Egyptian Faience Eye of Horus")
_200x200.jpg "Egyptian Faience Eye of Horus")
.jpg "Egyptian Faience Eye of Horus")
LOT 0499
Egyptian Faience Eye of Horus
LATE NEW KINGDOM, CIRCA 1300-1075 B.C.
3/4 in. (0.78 grams, 21 mm).
Openwork wedjat eye pendant with suspension loop above and slender frame.
ProvenanceAcquired 1970s onwards.
Private collection of Michael O'Hara, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Cf. Kalloniatis, F., The Egyptian Collection at Norwich Castle Museum, Oxford, 2019, pl.17 no.117, for a similar openwork example.
FootnotesThe wedjat eye amulet symbolised the eye of the falcon god Horus. According to ancient Egyptian mythology, Horus’ eye was gouged out by his treacherous uncle Seth and then healed by Thoth. While these amulets could be worn for protection in daily life, they also played a significant role in the funerary sphere. Wedjat eye amulets were believed to offer protection to the deceased’s mummy and could serve as substitutes for daily food offerings.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Egyptian Faience Bead and Amulet Group
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Comprising mainly blue and green tubular beads with some annular beads and fragmentary amulets, including the head of a hare and a portion of a hedjet crown. 19 grams total, 2-19 mm
From an early 20th century Home Counties, UK, collection. -
Egyptian Flint Handaxe
Lower Palaeolithic Period, circa 450,000-280,000 B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Irregular in plan with biconvex section. 380 grams, 14 cm
Found Egypt, North Africa. From the British art market in the 1970s-1980s. Acquired via inheritance, 1988. From the collection of a South West London, UK, specialist Stone Age collector. -
Egyptian Faience Mummy Bead Panel with Four Sons of Horus
Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Restrung as an openwork panel with a winged scarab above and the Four Sons of Horus below as two opposing pairs; restrung with some later beads. 34.6 grams, 15 cm
From an early 20th century Home Counties, UK, collection.
These elements would have been placed on the chest and body below a beadwork mummy mask. Winged scarabs were often used as funerary amulets and believed to symbolise the deceased's rebirth and regeneration. The Four Sons of Horus protected the deceased's internal organs. Here, on the left, is the erect-eared jackal-headed Duamutef who protects the stomach, followed by the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, who protects the intestines, then the human-headed Imsety, protector of the liver and, finally, the baboon-headed Hapy on the right, protector of the lungs.
