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LOT 0534
Egyptian Faience Mummy Bead Mask with Four Sons of Horus
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 332-30 B.C.
11 7/8 in. (113 grams, 30 cm).
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 a false beard, a scarab with extended wings below, and the 'Four Sons of Horus’ figures beneath the scarab, joined together with areas of open netting of tubular examples; restrung with some later beads.
ProvenanceEx Mariaud des Serres, Paris, France, 1990s.
LiteratureCf. Manley, B., and Dodson, A., Life Everlasting. National Museum of Scotland Collection of Ancient Egyptian Coffins, Edinburgh, 2010, p.114, no.43, for a bead-work shroud incorporating the mask, winged scarab, and Four Sons of Horus.
FootnotesWinged scarabs were often used as funerary amulets and believed to symbolise the deceased's rebirth and regeneration.
The Four Sons of Horus were deities responsible for protecting 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. The internal organs were often placed in canopic jars with the head of the respective Son of Horus. Amulets depicting these deities were placed within the mummy wrappings.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0534
Egyptian Faience Mummy Bead Mask with Four Sons of Horus
Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
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Egyptian Limestone 'Floral' Inlay Group
Roman Period, 30 B.C.-323 A.D. or earlierSold for (Inc. bp): £85
Group of discoid inlay plaques or gaming counters, crinoids with cinquefoil motif. 80 grams total, 12-19 mm
From a central London ADA gallery, 1990s.
Flowers were symbolic of rebirth due to the daily reopening of their petals after nightfall. As a result, they were widely used in domestic settings, religious and funerary contexts, and as adornments. Similar rosette discs, like those recovered from the Ramesside Period palace at Qantir, were used as decorative elements in royal palaces. -
Egyptian Faience Amulet of an Ibis
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Estimate: £500 - 700 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £250
An exquisitely modelled figure of a seated ibis on a trapezoidal-shaped plinth, with its beak resting on the slender feather of Maat; light turquoise glaze for the body, plinth, and feather; blue glaze for the tail feathers, feet and neck; head missing. 3.54 grams, 31 mm
with Bonhams, Knightsbridge, 3 October 2000, no.413. Private collection, Europe.
The ibis was considered sacred to the god Thoth. It is likely that the popularity of amulets depicting an ibis resting its beak on the feather of Maat in the funerary sphere is connected to Thoth's role as the recorder of the final judgment of the deceased by the divine tribunal. This tribunal determined if the deceased had lived a virtuous life and could enter the Underworld. This was visually represented by the deceased's heart placed on scales with the feather of Maat; if the heart and feather balanced, eternity was assured. -
Stone Age Egyptian Flint Axehead
Lower Palaeolithic Period, circa 450,000-280,000 B.P.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Biconvex in section with irregular curved edge. 389 grams, 12.3 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.
