LOT 0479

Egyptian Limestone Relief with Bound Asiatic Captive

NEW KINGDOM, 19TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1250 B.C.

14 3/4 in. (14.5 kg, 37.5 cm high).

Sub-rectangular with keyhole-shaped aperture to the lower right edge; low-relief figure in profile wearing a tunic with circular neckline, bobbed hair swept behind the ears, sharp facial features with short goatee beard; bands of vertical fluting.

Acquired 1970s-1996.
Property of a North American collector.
London collection, 2016.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no. 11830-207550.

See Spalinger, A.J., Historical Observations on the Military Reliefs of Abu Simbel and Other Ramesside Temples in Nubia, in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Vol. 66, 1980; see also a similar image of a Syrian prisoner from the temple of Ramesses III at Tell el Yahudiyeh, in Caubet, A., Egyptian & Near Eastern Faience at the Louvre, in Minerva, September/October 2005, pp.8-10, fig.7.

The features and hairstyle of the figure resemble closely those of Asiatic captives shown on the outer wall of the temple of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel, Egypt. It is likely that the Egyptian artists from the time of Thutmose III onwards had frequent opportunities to observe the foreigners who came, or were brought into Egypt. It is likely that the Egyptian artists were interested in differentiating the various peoples encountered by the armies on their campaigns northward during the New Kingdom.
The remains of a circular aperture behind the figure probably indicates that the slab was re-used as a grindstone or a door pivot in ancient times.