Egyptian Terracotta Handled Oil Lamp

Barrel-shaped in profile with a rounded base, broad shoulder and flared mouth, two lateral integral loop handles; incised hieroglyphic legend to the shoulder. 420 grams, 37 cm



Formerly in a private collection, Beirut, Lebanon, 1990s. Swiss private collection, acquired from Mr H., Geneva, 2010. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13221-249178. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00059830

In the Phoenician necropolises of Andalusia, the ashes of the deceased were enclosed in luxurious alabaster urns of Egyptian manufacture. In the Phoenician necropolis of Almuñécar, for example, some urns preserved inscriptions and emblems of various Egyptian pharaohs, who ruled the Nile region between the 16th and 8th centuries B.C. Alabaster vessels of this type, originally containing fine wines, have been discovered, albeit in smaller numbers, in the royal palaces of Assur and Samaria in the East, as part of war booty or gifts exchanged between royal houses.

Mummiform figure wearing a braided beard with chin-straps in relief, broad collar visible between the lappets of the nemes headdress adorned with a double uraeus, the crossed hands holding a hoe and pick, with a seed bag over the left shoulder, his broad face with straight nose, wide-set eyes and large ears, six horizontal lines of inscription, giving a version of Chapter 6 from the Book of the Dead; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 659 grams total, 21 cm including stand



J.J. Klejman, Madison Avenue, New York, USA, 1960s. UK private collection, acquired from the above, 1960s. Bluett and Sons, London, 1979. Sheppard & Cooper, UK, private collection, 1980s. Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani, the 'Princely' private collection, UK. Acquired from the above in 2017. with Sotheby's, London, 5 July 2024, no.126. Accompanied by a copy of the Bluett and Sons invoice, 22 January 1979. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13273-254064.

Of the 1277 shabtis of Senkamenisken found in the king's burial chamber of his pyramid tomb at Nuri (Pyramid 3), 410 are made of serpentine, the remaining 867 of faience. The inscription reads: 'The illuminated one, the Osiris, the good god, lord of the two lands, Sekheper[en]re, true of voice, He says: "O this shabti, if anyone summons the Osiris Senkamenisken, true of voice, in order to do any work which is to be done in the God's Land (i.e. necropolis), to cultivate the fields, to irrigate the canals, to carry sand from the east to the west and vice versa, 'Here I am', you shall say".

A bifacial flint arrowhead with a pronounced hollow-base form. 2.55 grams, 35.6 mm



From the late collection of a Cornish couple, formed from the early 1990s.

Many hollow-base flint arrowheads were uncovered during excavations at Neolithic sites in Egypt, such as the Fayum region (cf. British Museum EA58736) and Merimde Beni Salama in the Delta (cf. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology UC10909).