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LOT 0487
Egyptian Faience Scarab Wing Pair
LATE PERIOD, 664-332 B.C.
1 5/8 - 1 3/4 in. (15 grams total, 43-44 mm).
Each flat-section with a band of feathers within the border, two attachment holes. [2, No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the private collection of the late Julian Bird, UK, formed since the 1970s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Cf. Tinius, I., Altägypten in Braunschweig. Die Sammlungen des Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museums und des Städtischen Museums, Wiesbaden, 2011, p.170, no. 328, for a comparable faience wing.
FootnotesThese wings were once part of a central scarab amulet. Winged scarabs often served as funerary adornments and were believed to symbolise the rebirth and regeneration of the deceased.
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 Amuletic Pendant
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
Formed as a broad collar with a Horus head finial supported by two cobra heads. 0.92 grams, 14 mm
Ex early 20th century collection, London, UK. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato. -
Egyptian Alabaster Alabastron
7th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
With an ovoid body and two small lug handles to the upper body. 121 grams, 72 mm
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
The name by which we know the vessel in question comes directly from its name in Greek— alábastron —which itself was derived from Egyptian, although It is difficult to say whether the name in Egyptian first applied to the type of vessel or to the stone used to make it. Pliny (NH 36.12, 37.54) includes an alabastrites or alabastritis from Alabastrum near Thebes in Egypt among his description of stones, and Theophrastus (On Stones, 1.6) an alabastrítes, also from near Thebes. Ptolemy (Geography, 4.5) even mentions an alabastrites mons, a mountain of alabaster, in the same vicinity. The prototype of the alabastron shape with two lug handles first appeared in Egypt at the end of the Middle Kingdom and continued in use with slight variations through New Kingdom times. After an apparent hiatus in the use of the shape at the end of the Late Bronze Age, it appeared again in the second half of the eighth century in a form more similar to our specimen and became common by the 26th Dynasty. -
Egyptian Alabaster Alabastron
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Estimate: £800 - 1,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £400
Ovoid jar with a rounded base, concave shoulders and flared neck; remains of lug handles, restored. 332 grams, 14 cm
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
