LOT 0025

Egyptian Figural Inlay

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 332-30 BC

3 3/4" (120 grams, 90mm including stand).

A blue glass figural inlay modelled in the half-round of a profile male bust with recessed detail to the brow, eye and ear, curved outline to the cheek; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Property of a New York collector; acquired 1980s.

Accompanied by an Art Loss Register certificate.

Cf. Malek, J. Egyptian Art, London, 1999, item 253.

The head is most likely that of Amun, patron deity of the city of Thebes, protector of the Pharaoh and chief god of the Egyptian pantheon. His main temple was the enormous complex at Karnak that was lavishly decorated by each succeeding Pharaoh who viewed him as their father. He was believed to be self-created and his name means "he who moves across the waters," indicating the primordial ocean at the beginning of time. He was associated with other deities such as Min and Ra, and his wife was Mut, the mother goddess, and their child was Khonsu, god of the moon. Amun was often described as having skin that blue like lapis lazuli. This inlay would have most likely been part of a decorative scheme for a shrine housing an image of the god.