Egyptian Schist Plate

Wearing a broad collar and a stylised scarab on top of the head, elongated arms resting on the lower part of his protruding abdomen. 10.8 grams, 43 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Herodotus mentions Pataikos as a dwarf-like representation of Ptah, although the ancient Egyptian name of the god remains unclear. These diminutive amulets symbolise Ptah’s immense magical power, which served to protect the wearer from dangerous creatures such as snakes and crocodiles. The role of the deity in the funerary sphere is explained in Spell 164 of the Book of the Dead, where a Pataikos is used to protect the deceased's heart from enemy attacks and the putrefaction of the body.

With detailed carapace and mouth, hieroglyphs to the underside depicting a pharaoh-headed sphinx, with hes-vase in front and the crowns of Lower and Upper Egypt behind. 0.80 grams, 12 mm



Ex R. Liechti (1934-2010) Geneva, Switzerland, formed between 1950-1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Rectangular with sloping faces on the underside, the upper face with two lines of hieroglyphic inscription reading: ‘Treasurer of the god, chief keeper (of) the House of Gold, great (of) Ra, Pa-di-Ra son of Pa-khered-tawy (or Pa-shery-tawy)’. 2.56 grams, 12 mm



with Bonhams, London, 27 April 2006. with Galerie Rhéa, Zurich, Switzerland. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The ‘Treasurer of the god’ is a long-attested title known since the Old Kingdom (Jones, D., An Index of Ancient Egyptian Titles, Epithets and Phrases of the Old Kingdom, vol. II, Oxford, 2000, p. 767, no. 2791). The ‘Chief keeper’ title is known from the New Kingdom (for a similar writing of the title, see Al-Ayedi, A.R., Index of Egyptian Administrative, Religious and Military Titles of the New Kingdom, Ismailia, 2006, p. 395, no. 1236). The last part of the title is somewhat curious; the determinative at the end, previously interpreted as ‘Ra’, does not match the determinative for this god in the second line. An alternative tentative interpretation could be ‘Chief keeper, of the gold of the Pharaoh’, treating the pr and ꜤꜢ signs, which are shown side-by-side, as writing ‘Pharaoh’, with the seated figure wearing the Dual Crown symbolising the ruler.