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LOT 0510
Egyptian Pre-Dynastic Stone Frog
4TH MILLENNIUM B.C.
3 1/8 in. (537 grams, 81 mm).
Pyramidal in form with shallow-carved hip and facial detailing.
Provenancewith Artemis Gallery, Munich, Germany, 2001.
Private collection, Europe.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12580-232124.
Cf. Teeter, E. (ed.), Before the Pyramids, The origins of Egyptian Civilization, Chicago, 2011, fig.65, p.211, for a similar stone frog.
FootnotesThe frog had a great role in ancient Egyptian mythology and was connected with the mythology of creation. A number of gods and goddesses were connected with the frog such as Heqet, Ptah, and Heh. The connection with the god Ptah as a god of creation was probably due to the idea that Ptah was the only god who created the world in ancient Egypt through his heart and his tongue. Every work of the god came about through what his heart devised and his tongue commanded. Frogs were often associated with Hekat, deity of birth and fecundity. Amulets of frogs were frequent votive gifts at such Predynastic and Archaic sites at Abydos, Naqada, and Saqqara.
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LOT 0510
Egyptian Pre-Dynastic Stone Frog
Estimate £1,500 - 2,000€1,740 - 2,320 (for guidance only)$2,030 - 2,700 (for guidance only)
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Very Large Egyptian Expedition Lithograph of the Hypogees Papyrus Manuscript from Thebes
Early 19th century A.D.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
Proof etching on laid paper of plate 68 from Vol .II of Description de l'Égypte : ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française. entiled Thèbes. Hypogées. Manuscrit sur papyrus. 256 grams, 104 x 68.5 cm
From the collection of a North American priest. Acquired between 1981-1996. Property of a North American collector.
Produced between February 1802 and 1830 on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte; published between 1809 and 1828. Just 1,000 copies were distributed to various institutions, printed on laid paper with an 'Égypte ancienne et moderne' watermark. The book is subtitled Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’Armée française, publié par les ordres de Sa Majesté l’Empereur Napoléon le Grand (Gathering of observations and discoveries which were made in Egypt during the expedition of the French army, published on the orders of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon the Great). It was the world's first encyclopedia devoted exclusively to the remains of ancient Egypt. The plates of this book are the first to present the archaeological sites of Thebes (Luxor). The papyrus manuscript was recovered from an underground tomb chamber (hypogeum). The text is written in a cursive style of hieroglyphs known as hieratic. -
Egyptian Bronze Figure of a Shrew
Late-Ptolemaic Period, 664-30 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £715
Modelled in the round in a crouching pose on a rectangular base with an attachment peg. 145 grams, 73 mm
From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
This figure most likely comes from a shrew coffin or votive statuette. The dwarf shrew (Crocidura nana) and Flower’s shrew (Crocidura floweri) were among many animal species buried in dedicated cemeteries across various parts of Egypt. Ironically, these tiny creatures symbolised Horus in his raptor-headed form — a figure who, in reality, would have preyed upon them. Shrews were associated with Khenty-irty, the “seeing-and-blind god,” due to their ability to navigate darkness. It may be possible to read the shrew’s symbolism as that of seeking light in darkness, representing the Egyptian belief in the deceased’s journey through the hours of the night before rebirth at dawn. Radiographic analysis of a bundle containing about twenty-one shrews shows that they were dried whole, with no evisceration, preserved by being ‘pickled’ in natron. -
Very Large Egyptian Expedition Lithograph of the Memnonium at Thebes and Tomb of Ozymandias
Early 19th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Proof etching on laid paper of plate 26 from Vol .II of Description de l'Égypte : ou, Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française. entitled Thèbes. Memnonium. Vue du tombeau d'Osymandyas et d'une partie de la chaîne Libyque, prise du nord-est. 227 grams, 104 x 69.5 cm
From the collection of a North American priest. Acquired between 1981-1996. Property of a North American collector.
Produced between February 1802 and 1830 on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte; published between 1809 and 1828. Just 1,000 copies were distributed to various institutions, printed on laid paper with an 'Égypte ancienne et moderne' watermark. The book is subtitled Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l’expédition de l’Armée française, publié par les ordres de Sa Majesté l’Empereur Napoléon le Grand (Gathering of observations and discoveries which were made in Egypt during the expedition of the French army, published on the orders of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon the Great). It was the world's first encyclopedia devoted exclusively to the remains of ancient Egypt. The plates of this book are the first to present the archaeological sites of Thebes (Luxor). The "Memnonium" was the Greek name for the mortuary temple of Ramesses II, known today as the Ramesseum.
