Egyptian Faience Necklace with Pendant

Standing erect with dorsal pillar and rectangular base, arms straight and one leg advancing; lion-head wearing atef crown and a uraeus; mounted on a custom-made stand. 50.8 grams total, 84 mm including stand



Ex early 20th century London, UK, collection.

Mahes was an Egyptian lion-headed deity linked to divine protection, royal authority, and retributive justice. Considered a son of the goddess Bastet—or, in some traditions, Sekhmet—he embodied the fierce, solar power of the sun god Re and served as a fierce protector of cosmic order. Mahes was especially venerated in the Delta region, notably at Leontopolis, where his leonine form highlighted his role as a guardian and destroyer of enemies. Iconographically, he is commonly depicted as a lion or, as here, a man with a lion’s head, wearing an atef- crown.

Comprising: an amuletic bead consisting of a row of seven Taweret figures on a rectangular base, pierced longitudinally; a seated ibis before a diminutive figure of Maat on a tongue-shaped base; a cippus amulet composed of the figure of Pataikos standing on two crocodiles, with two hawks perched on his shoulders, a scarab on his head, flanked by the figures of Isis and Nephthys, and on the back, a winged goddess standing on the crocodiles' tails. 6.5 grams total, 16-30 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Modelled standing on a rectangular base in characteristic hippopotamus-headed form with a dorsal pillar, pierced for suspension at the rear of the tall two-feather headdress. 5.18 grams, 52 mm



Private collection, Carouge, Switzerland, assembled in the 1980s-1990s. Thence by descent to the collection of Mr S.P., since 2020.