LOT 0010

Egyptian Stone Stela with Pharaoh, Isis, Horus and Thoth

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 3RD-2ND CENTURY B.C.

21 5/8 in. (19.45 kg total, 55 cm including stand).

Round-topped stela with decoration on two registers; the lunette, featuring a winged sun disc with pendant uraei; the main panel with a frieze in sunk relief depicting the pharaoh wearing the double crown, facing left offering the hieroglyphic symbol for 'fields'; a goddess stands behind him, possibly Isis, wearing a tight-fitting robe and sporting a tall two-plumed headdress, with one hand raised in praise; facing the pharaoh is the falcon-headed god, possibly Horus or Her-wer, wearing a double-crown, and behind him stands the ibis-headed Thoth wearing the Atef crown, both gods hold a was-sceptre; repaired, mounted on a custom-made stand.

Acquired in the mid-1980s-1990s.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.

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 search certificate number no.12200-222172.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Cf. Bosticco, S., Museo archaeologico di Firenze: le stele egiziane di epoca tarda Rome, 1972, no. 58, for an arch-topped stela depicting the pharaoh offering the 'field' symbol to the gods Her-wer and Sobek.

The overall tripartite composition is comparable to numerous stelae of the Ptolemaic Period and can be dated to the 3rd-2nd century B.C. The decorative lunette and/or sky bands and bold sunk relief winged sun disc are characteristic of this period, as is the fringed detailing of the female’s garment. The offering of the ‘field’ symbol is also a frequent depiction of the stelae of this period, which can be understood as a ‘catch-all’ device representing an offering of all the produce from the fields. Such stelae were often produced as stock products to which clients would have their names and other details added. Therefore, the stela is likely an example of one awaiting purchase. After the purchase, the hieroglyphic labels would be added to the figurative tableau, and a dedicatory text would be carved into the plain rectangle in the lower part. Sometimes, however, it appears that a purchaser could not afford the additional expense of a professionally engraved inscription, and so would scratch a short dedication in the lower panel as seen, for example, in the stela for Horudja from the Delta site of Tanis and now in the Musée du Louvre (inv. no. AF 11682).