Egyptian Faience Mummy Bead Mask

With naturalistic detailing to the upper body and legs; base engraved with seven rows of hieroglyphic text, a version of Chapter 30b of the Book of the Dead; faience or glazed steatite. 68.5 grams, 54 mm



Ex collection Charles Bouché, (1928 - 2010). Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. Accompanied by a copy of a French cultural passport no.139368. Accompanied by old sketches of the artefact together with a provisional translation of the hieroglyphic inscription in French; mentioning the god Osiris. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11845-206822.

Comprising: one olive-green with lobe base, one rich blue with black detailing, one with tripartite wig. 21 grams total, 45-63 mm



Ex Cummings collection, UK, 1990s.

Pale blue-green bifacial bust of Hathor with D-shaped face, characteristic banded hair with curled ends, cow's ears, broad collar of radiating segments; circular attachment point beneath for handle. 44.4 grams, 50 mm



Acquired in the 1970s. European private collection.

This fragment is the central element of a highly decorative sistrum. The sistrum was a rattle-like instrument played exclusively by women in religious ceremonies. The sound produced by the sistrum was believed to drive away evil and soothe a god's anger. Hathor is the daughter of the sun god Re, and in her role as a mother goddess is often depicted as a cow or with bovine characteristics as here. Hathor is also associated with love, music and dancing, and the sistrum is one of her sacred symbols.