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Details
LOT 0031
Egyptian Gold Mounted Hardstone Scarab
NEW KINGDOM, 1550-1070 B.C.
3/4 in. (2.51 grams, 19 mm).
The scarab with simple incised detailing and hieroglyphs to base, with the name Amun-Ra, the mount with two suspension loops.
Provenance
From an early 20th century collection, Home Counties, UK, 1930-1940s.
Literature
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 35.3.104, for a similar mount.
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Smith family collection, Cambridge, UK since 1949. Private UK collection since 1978. Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11033-183985.
The moon god Khonsu (whose name means 'wanderer', referring to the passage of the moon across the sky) is known as a blood-thirsty sky-deity in the Pyramid Texts. In New Kingdom Thebes, however, he was regarded as a far more benevolent deity, being the child of Amun and Mut, and provided with his own temple at Karnak. There, he was considered to control destiny. Khonsu can appear in human form with a side-lock of youth, wearing an enveloping garment, and holding royal regalia, and also as a falcon-headed man with the full moon and crescent new moon headdress, as with this fine example. In his falcon-headed form he frequently holds an ankh symbol and a was-sceptre, for which the hands of this piece were drilled to accept the god's well-known attributes.
