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LOT 0442
Egyptian Mummy Shroud Section with Hieratic Text
LATE-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 480-30 B.C.
15 3/4 in. (3.74 grams, 40 cm).
A narrow strip of woven linen textile featuring two lines of neatly written hieratic text in black.
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. A. De Caluwe, A., Un "Livre des Morts" sur bandelette de momie, Brussels, 1991, for a discussion of the longest known mummy bandage.
FootnotesFrom the fifth century B.C., mummy wrappings often feature hieratic script—a cursive form of Egyptian hieroglyphs used for daily and religious texts. These include excerpts from funerary works like the Book of the Dead, alongside prayers meant to protect the deceased in the afterlife. Often with vignettes, these texts were inscribed directly on linen strips during the mummification. Some bandages were notably long; one from Brussels, 6.2 cm wide, measures an incredible 26 metres.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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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. -
Phoenician Green Stone Scarab with Three-Headed Gryllos
6th-4th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,730
With carapace detailing to the convex face; underside with gryllos of a bearded male, a slender female and a boar. 6.94 grams, 28 mm
Ex collection of the late Mr S. M., London, UK, 1970-1990s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12635-234910. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Grylli motifs usually combine various human and animal heads, sometimes including animal legs. -
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.
