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LOT 0481
Egyptian Mixed Scarab and Scaraboid Collection
2ND-1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
1/2 - 7/8 in. (13 grams total, 11-23 mm).
Comprising (from left to right, top to bottom): 1) a scarab with an oval border containing a goose, nefer(?), and a reed leaf; 2) a scarab with an oval border featuring a triple lotus flower motif at the top and bottom, with a middle row of floral bundles; 3) a scaraboid with a long oval border containing a cross pattern incorporating scrolls, coiled cords, and floral elements; 4) a scarab with an oval border featuring a hes-jar flanked by two cobras; 5) a scarab with a standing male figure holding a sceptre/mace and a flail, flanked by two highly stylised rearing cobras; 6) a plain scarab; 7) and a scarab with an oval border containing the name Amun-Re, a neb symbol, and a lotus flower. [7]
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Cf. 1) Matouk, F.S., Corpus du scarabée égyptien. Vol. 2: Analyse thématique, Beirut, 1976, p. 393, nos. 1029-1032, for examples of scarab motifs incorporating a goose, reed leaf, and other symbols; 2) Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Fribourg/Göttingen, 2007, pl. 32, no.2, for a similar example, but with two central rows of floral bundles; 3) Ben-Tor, D., Scarabs, Chronology, and Interconnections: Egypt and Palestine in the Second Intermediate Period, Fribourg/Göttingen, 2007, pl. 68, no. 10, for a comparable design of a Caananite scarab; 4) Matouk, F.S., Corpus du scarabée égyptien. Vol. 2: Analyse thématique, Beirut, 1976, p. 395, no.1152, for a scarab with a horizontal arrangement of the same motif; 5) Matouk, F.S., Corpus du scarabée égyptien. Vol. 2: Analyse thématique, Beirut, 1976, p. 402, no. 1662, for a similarly-themed scarab; 7) Ben-Tor, D., The Scarab: A Reflection of Ancient Egypt, Tel Aviv, 1993, p.73, no.1, for similar.
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LOT 0481
Egyptian Mixed Scarab and Scaraboid Collection
Estimate £500 - 700€580 - 810 (for guidance only)$680 - 950 (for guidance only)
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Egyptian Alabaster Alabastron
7th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
With an ovoid body and two small lug handles to the upper body. 121 grams, 72 mm
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
The name by which we know the vessel in question comes directly from its name in Greek— alábastron —which itself was derived from Egyptian, although It is difficult to say whether the name in Egyptian first applied to the type of vessel or to the stone used to make it. Pliny (NH 36.12, 37.54) includes an alabastrites or alabastritis from Alabastrum near Thebes in Egypt among his description of stones, and Theophrastus (On Stones, 1.6) an alabastrítes, also from near Thebes. Ptolemy (Geography, 4.5) even mentions an alabastrites mons, a mountain of alabaster, in the same vicinity. The prototype of the alabastron shape with two lug handles first appeared in Egypt at the end of the Middle Kingdom and continued in use with slight variations through New Kingdom times. After an apparent hiatus in the use of the shape at the end of the Late Bronze Age, it appeared again in the second half of the eighth century in a form more similar to our specimen and became common by the 26th Dynasty. -
Egyptian Limestone Floral Inlay Group
Roman Period, 30 B.C.-323 A.D. or earlierSold for (Inc. bp): £59
Group of discoid inlay plaques or gaming counters, crinoids with cinquefoil motif; some fragmentary. 49 grams total, 6-17 mm
From a central London ADA dealership, 1980-1990. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Flowers were symbolic of rebirth due to the daily reopening of their petals after nightfall. As a result, they were widely used in domestic settings, religious and funerary contexts, and as adornments. Similar rosette discs, like those recovered from the Ramesside Period palace at Qantir, were used as decorative elements in royal palaces. -
Egyptian Silver Fly Amulet
Late-Ptolemaic Period, 664-30 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £111
With detailing to wings and eyes, loop for suspension above the head. 0.89 grams, 20 mm
From an early 20th century collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
