Details

LOT 0464

Egyptian Hardstone Architectural Amulet

LATE PERIOD, 664-332 B.C.

1 in. (3.15 grams, 24 mm).

Carved haematite representation of a carpenter's or stonemason's set-square.

Provenance

with Hotel des Ventes, Drouot, Paris, France.
From the collection of Mr H. Naudy, Paris, France.
Acquired at between 2004-2010.
Property of a French collector.

Literature

Cf. Andrews, C., Amulets of Ancient Egypt, London, 1994, p. 85, pl.87(c), for a similar haematite example.

Footnotes

Amulets of the L-shaped carpenter's or stonemason's set-square, usually depicted as two rectangular strips of unequal lengths meeting at a right angle, were most frequently made of dark hard stones such as haematite, as this example. Set-square amulets were believed to bestow eternal moral uprightness upon their possessor.