LOT 0037

Egyptian Painted Limestone Mummiform Sekhmet Statuette

CIRCA 7TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.

3 in. (29 grams total, 77 mm including stand).

Carved in the round depiction of Bastet or Sekhmet in a lion-headed form with a tripartite headdress, with front lappets overlain by the leonine mane; between the ears, a hole possibly for the insertion of a separate sun disc element; red pigment lines and fringe to the shoulders; a black diamond pattern with central red dots decorating the back, and a winged scarab in black on the abdomen; marked on the underside with the collector's reference 'BAOP SAKKARA'; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

Private collection of George Anastase Michaelides (1900-1973) and legally exported from Egypt in the 1940s.
Black ink inscription on base "BAOP SAKKARA".
Christie's, London, 29 October 2003, no.167.

Accompanied by a copy of the relevant Christie's catalogue pages.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13101-248076.

Cf. Daressy, G., Catalogue général des antiquités égyptiennes du Musée du Caire N° 38001-39384 Statues de divinités, Cairo, 1906, p. 153 (inv. no. 38586), pl. XXXII, for a similar statuette in faience.

Considering the specified Saqqara provenance, it is probable that the statuette originated from the Bubastaeion, dedicated to Bastet. The goddess was more commonly depicted as a cat or a human with a cat's head, although she also sometimes displayed a leonine aspect. It is also possible that the statuette represents her son, Mahes, who was depicted as a man with a lion's head.