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Details
LOT 0424
Egyptian Glass Eye Inlay Pair
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 332-30 B.C.
1 - 1 1/8 in. (4.12 grams total, 27-29 mm).
The sclera white and the iris black. [2, No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired on the UK art market, 1977-1979.
Private collection, London.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Footnotes
Egyptian coffin eye inlays were both decorative and symbolic, intended to make the coffin appear lifelike and assist the deceased in the afterlife. Typically, they featured a white sclera (glass, travertine, alabaster or quartz), a dark iris (glass or often obsidian), and sometimes red paint at the inner corner. The eyes were often set in bronze or copper frames, occasionally with faience or bronze eyebrows.
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