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LOT 0003
Egyptian Wooden Head of an Ibis
LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 664-30 B.C.
7 1/4 in. (116 grams total, 18.5 cm wide).
Naturalistically carved ibis head from a composite statuette, with carefully detailed beak and eyes; traces of gesso and gilding remain; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceAmerican private collection, New York, acquired in London before 2000.
LiteratureCf. Waziry, M., Vestiges of Ancient Egypt,The Bubasteion Votive Cachette at Saqqara, Houston, 2023, pp.110-11, no. 48, for a complete example showing the wooden rod supporting the back of the head.
FootnotesThe ibis was sacred to the god Thoth, who was revered for his association with knowledge, writing, and healing. The god also acted as the recorder of the final judgment, which determined whether the deceased had lived a life of virtue. Vast numbers of ibises were mummified in religious centres such as Saqqara and Tuna el-Gebel, where they were offerings to the god and interred in extensive catacombs.
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AUCTIONS:
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Egyptian Silver Fly Amulet
Late Period, 664-332 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £182
With linear detailing to body and wings, loop above the neck. 1.1 grams, 20 mm
From an early 20th century collection.
Small fly amulets first appeared in burials during the Naqada II Period, c. 3200 B.C. These amulets grew in popularity and the materials used to make them expanded during the New Kingdom. They are crafted from a variety of materials such as gold, silver, lapis lazuli, carnelian, amethyst, faience, and bone. These amulets were thought to protect against insect bites and to ward off troublesome flying creatures through apotropaic magic. Some believe they may have even been intended to symbolise the fly’s fecundity. Additionally, pharaohs would bestow gold fly-shaped pendants as military awards to honour the bravery and fly-like persistence of soldiers in battle. -
Egyptian Faience Beaded Mummy Mask with Sons of Horus
Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £358
Restrung netted beadwork panel of annular and tubular glazed composition beads in blues, greens, black, cream and red-brown colours, depicting a mummy face-mask with false beard, a scarab with extended wings below, the 'Four Sons of Horus’ beneath the scarab, joined together with areas of open netting of tubular beads; restrung with some later beads. 72 grams, 26 cm
Ex Mariaud de Serres, Paris, France, 1990s. From a London, UK, collection.
The Four Sons of Horus were deities responsible for protecting the internal organs of the deceased. Here, on the left, we can see the jackal-headed Duamutef, who protected the stomach, followed by the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, protector of the intestines, then the human-headed Imsety, who protected the liver and, finally, the baboon-headed Hapy, protected the lungs, on the right. -
Egyptian Faience Scarab Collection
Mainly 15th-14th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,690
Including a white scarab with cartouche of Thutmose III; a white rectangle with two cartouches of Thutmose III, a white rectangle with hieroglyphs to one face for Amenhotep III and to the reverse those for Teje, one of his wives; and other items. 22.7 grams total, 12-28 mm
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.
