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Details

LOT 0448

Egyptian Faience Mummy Beadwork Mask with Sons of Horus

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 332-30 B.C.

11 1/4 in. (115 grams, 28.5 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 beneath the 'Four Sons of Horus’, Duamutef, Qebehsenuef, Imsety, and Hapy joined together with areas of open netting of tubular examples; restrung with some later beads.

Provenance

Mariaud de Serres, Paris, 1990s.

Footnotes

Winged scarabs were often used as funerary amulets, and were believed to symbolise the rebirth and regeneration of the deceased. The Four Sons of Horus were deities responsible for protecting the deceased's internal organs. The jackal-headed Duamutef protected the stomach, the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef protected the intestines, the human-headed Imsety protected the liver, and the baboon-headed Hapy protected the lungs. These internal organs were often placed in canopic jars, each with the head of the respective Son of Horus. Amulets depicting these deities were placed within the mummy wrappings.

CONDITION

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AUCTIONS:

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LOT 0448

Egyptian Faience Mummy Beadwork Mask with Sons of Horus

Sold for (Inc. bp): £416

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