Egyptian Green Stone Scarab with Eye of Horus

Proof etching on laid paper of plate 63 from Vol.II of Description de l'Égypte : ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française. entitled Thèbes. Hypogées. Manuscrit sur papyrus. 3eme partie. 272 grams, 103.5 x 69 cm



From the collection of a North American priest. Acquired between 1981-1996. Property of a North American collector.

Produced between February 1802 and 1830 on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte; published between 1809 and 1828. Just 1,000 copies were distributed to various institutions, printed on laid paper with an 'Égypte ancienne et moderne' watermark. The book is subtitled Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’Armée française, publié par les ordres de Sa Majesté l’Empereur Napoléon le Grand (Gathering of observations and discoveries which were made in Egypt during the expedition of the French army, published on the orders of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon the Great). It was the world's first encyclopedia devoted exclusively to the remains of ancient Egypt. The plates of this book are the first to present the archaeological sites of Thebes (Luxor). The papyrus manuscript was recovered from an underground tomb chamber (hypogeum). The scene depicts the Fields of Iaru, a verdant paradise in the ancient Egyptian afterlife, where the deceased could enjoy abundant harvests.

Mummiform figure wearing a braided beard with chin-straps in relief, broad collar visible between the lappets of the nemes headdress adorned with a double uraeus, the crossed hands holding a hoe and pick, with a seed bag over the left shoulder, his broad face with straight nose, wide-set eyes and large ears, six horizontal lines of inscription, giving a version of Chapter 6 from the Book of the Dead; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 659 grams total, 21 cm including stand



J.J. Klejman, Madison Avenue, New York, USA, 1960s. UK private collection, acquired from the above, 1960s. Bluett and Sons, London, 1979. Sheppard & Cooper, UK, private collection, 1980s. Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani, the 'Princely' private collection, UK. Acquired from the above in 2017. with Sotheby's, London, 5 July 2024, no.126. Accompanied by a copy of the Bluett and Sons invoice, 22 January 1979. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13273-254064.

Of the 1277 shabtis of Senkamenisken found in the king's burial chamber of his pyramid tomb at Nuri (Pyramid 3), 410 are made of serpentine, the remaining 867 of faience. The inscription reads: 'The illuminated one, the Osiris, the good god, lord of the two lands, Sekheper[en]re, true of voice, He says: "O this shabti, if anyone summons the Osiris Senkamenisken, true of voice, in order to do any work which is to be done in the God's Land (i.e. necropolis), to cultivate the fields, to irrigate the canals, to carry sand from the east to the west and vice versa, 'Here I am', you shall say".

Formed as a rearing cobra with the hood divided into cells to accept inlay. 6.54 grams, 35 mm



From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.

The uraeus depicts a rearing cobra and symbolises royal power and authority, as well as the Lower Egyptian goddess Wadjet.