LOT 0463

Egyptian Painted Limestone Fragment from the Tomb of Pharaoh Seti I

NEW KINGDOM, 19TH DYNASTY, 1290-1279 B.C.

1 3/4 in. (15.3 grams, 44 mm).

Colourful, almost rectangular section of a wall fragment, with a slightly dished face, low-relief moulding with pigment, and 'Belzonis T[om]b' written at the top; accompanied by an old collector's label suggesting the likely findspot and other details. [No Reserve]

With a late 19th-early 20th century handwritten ticket attached.
From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s.

The Italian explorer and antiquarian Giovanni Battista Belzoni uncovered the tomb of Seti I (KV 17) on October 16, 1817. This monumental tomb, with beautifully decorated walls, extended almost 140 metres underground through a series of descending corridors and chambers. In 1821, Belzoni opened a groundbreaking exhibition at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, presenting a full-scale replica of the tomb. The paid public exhibition sparked massive 19th-century "Egyptomania" and introduced European audiences to ancient Egyptian art. Such was the renown of his discovery that it was often referred to as 'Belzoni's Tomb'.