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LOT 0017
Egyptian Mummy Shroud Section with Hieratic Text
LATE-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 480-30 B.C.
6 1/4 in. (5.61 grams, 16 cm).
A section of woven linen textile featuring lines of neat 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. De Caluwe, A., Un "Livre des Morts" sur bandelette de momie, Brussels, 1991, for a discussion of the longest known inscribed mummy bandage.
FootnotesFrom the fifth century B.C., mummy wrappings for the affluent frequently display lines of hieratic script—a cursive variant of Egyptian hieroglyphs used for both daily and religious writings. These often include excerpts from funerary texts like the Book of the Dead, along with prayers and invocations designed to safeguard and guide the deceased in the afterlife. These texts, sometimes accompanied by vignettes, were inscribed directly on the linen strips before or during the mummification process. Some of these bandages could be remarkably long; one example from Brussels, measuring only 6.2 cm in width, spans an incredible 26 metres.
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AUCTIONS:
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Egyptian Body of Anubis Glass Inlay
Late Period-Ptolemaic Period, 664-30 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £208
With gently curved obverse and flat reverse, section of an inlay depicting Anubis, with thick neck and beginning of extended foreleg. 110 grams, 96 mm
Acquired on the French art market, 1980s. with Bonhams, London, 13 April 2011, lot 21. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This coloured glass inlay depicts Anubis, the jackal-headed god of mummification and protector of the dead. Likely part of a coffin or shrine, it demonstrates the use of glass to imitate precious materials in elite funerary art. The figure’s profile and predominantly black colour evoke Anubis’s role in preservation and the afterlife. -
Egyptian Faience Ushabti
2nd millennium B.C.Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,000
Mummiform figure with black-pigment facial detailing, sidelock, tripartite wig, dorsal seed-net, tiered collar and vertical panel of hieroglyphic text. 134 grams, 15 cm
Acquired in the mid 1980s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12848-241648. 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. -
Large Egyptian Steatite Scarab
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £572
With a detailed carapace, mouth, and legs; the underside decorated with a line border enclosing a large central sma motif in the upper half, followed by a neb, men, and Khepri beetle hieroglyphs, flanked by rearing cobras. 33.76 grams, 46 mm
From 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.
