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_900x900.jpg "Egyptian Painted Wooden Model of a Cow Giving Birth, Together with Two Figures")
_200x200.jpg "Egyptian Painted Wooden Model of a Cow Giving Birth, Together with Two Figures")
.jpg "Egyptian Painted Wooden Model of a Cow Giving Birth, Together with Two Figures")
LOT 0428
Egyptian Painted Wooden Model of a Cow Giving Birth, Together with Two Figures
MIDDLE KINGDOM, 11TH-12TH DYNASTY, 2023-1862 B.C.
3 3/4 - 6 1/4 in. (111 grams total, 9.5-16 cm).
Composed of three figures: a standing cow or other quadruped giving birth to its young, its head, neck and forelegs emerging from the mother's rear, both with a black and white speckled coat; a standing male figure with articulated arms and pierced hands, wearing a kilt and cropped wig and with stylised facial detailing; a kneeling figure also with articulated arms, open-palm hands, wearing a kilt and cropped wig, stylised facial features; extensive remains of polychrome pigment.
ProvenanceFrom an early 20th century Home Counties collection.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11597-199209.
Cf. Barker, G., Preparing for Eternity: Funerary models and wall scenes from the Egyptian Old and Middle Kingdoms, Oxford, 2022, p.113 figure 4.2, for a near-identical calving cow figure, possibly from Meir (now in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, inv. no. 910.18.16.1-3); cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession numbers 2021.41.170 and 11.150.5, for similar human and animal figures of this date.
FootnotesSuch models would have been deposited in tombs; the purpose of such a scene was probably to evoke the season of spring, when calves were born, and the floodplain where farmers lived and raised their livestock.
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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LOT 0428
Egyptian Painted Wooden Model of a Cow Giving Birth, Together with Two Figures
Estimate £3,500 - 4,500€4,060 - 5,220 (for guidance only)$4,730 - 6,080 (for guidance only)
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Egyptian Limestone Painted Shabti Inscribed for Ir-Nu
New Kingdom, 19th-20th Dynasty, 1295-1077 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £18,200
Inscribed for Ir-nu; with carefully modelled face, large eyes and unnaturally large ears, wearing a neck-strap, a long tripartite wig with incised striations and a broad three-band collar; holding a pick in his left hand, a hoe in the right and a seed bag hanging over the left shoulder; the unusual position of the hands opposed on the chest; the text beginning in the vertical column running down the front of the figure, continuing in five horizontal bands with pale red-ochre pigment colouring to the top, middle and bottom bands; the same pigment used to colour the implements and also alternates with blue striations of the wig, the neck strap and details of the collar also in blue; the inscription from the Book of the Dead Chapter 6, reading: (Vertical column:) 'The illuminated one, the Osiris' (Horizontal rows:) 1) Ir-nu, true of voice, he says: O, this shabti 2) if one is counted, if one is reckoned to do the work 3) [to do all that is to be done in] the god’s land, to cultivate the riparian lands, transport by boat 4) [sand of] the west to the east, to act 5) at any time, to serve there (you) shall say true of voice(?). 1.4 kg total, 28.4 cm high including stand
Carieau family collection, Belgium, acquired in 1952. Ex Maspero collection, Paris, 1963. Acquired from a private European collection, in 1978. Accompanied by a copy of a technical report by Edmund S. Meltzer Ph.D. Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12080-217053. -
Egyptian Rock Crystal Scarab
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Estimate: £200 - 300 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £111
With segmented carapace, plain underside. 4.45 grams, 18 mm
From the property of the late Mr SM, London, UK, 1969-1999. -
Egyptian Wooden Doll with Circular Decorations
Coptic, 7th-11th centuries A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £117
Flat anthropomorphic panel with incised ring-and-dot ornament to obverse, single central ring-and-dot to the reverse. 16 grams, 12.4 cm
Acquired on the German art market, 1989-1995. with The Museum Gallery, 19 Bury Place, London, WC1A 2JB, 1998-2003. Property of a London based academic, 2003-present.
In the late Roman Egypt or early Islamic period (7th–11th century A.D.) a new type of figurine appeared in the archaeological record: small, crudely crafted human figures made of bone. Some researchers considered them as toys meant to prepare girls for motherhood; others saw them as fertility figurines. They are mostly referred to as early Christian or “Coptic dolls”. In Egypt and Palestine they seem to appear suddenly in the 7th century, coinciding with the Arab conquests, but they might have existed earlier. With the new Muslim empire bridging former Roman and Sassanian lands, these dolls found their way to Egypt and Palestine where they were reproduced in huge numbers, becoming popular in all levels of society of the 8th and 9th century. By the end of the 11th century they disappeared as quickly as they appeared, probably because of restrictions placed on their production by Islamic laws.
