Egyptian Wooden Sarcophagus Panel

Rectangular plaque with a ledge along the lower edge, featuring the half-round figures of Ptah, Amun-Ra, and Ra-Horakhty; each invoked in offering formulae written in three vertical columns on the back; a fragmentary suspension loop at the rear; mounted on a wooden display stand. 88.8 grams total, 85 mm including stand



From a deceased American estate, 1970-1989. with Bonhams, London, 28 October 2009, no.81. Private collection, Europe. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00066707. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13190-249206.

Amun, Ra-Horakhty, and Ptah. Amun evolved from a primordial god to a nationally worshipped deity, merging with Ra to become Amun-Ra, while Ra-Horakhty symbolises the sun and is depicted with a falcon's head. Ptah is recognised as the creator god and patron of craftsmen, originally worshipped in Memphis and later throughout Egypt.

Comprising: a large segmentum in linen and wool, with hares and lions, hunters with shields, purple wool on linen, S-torsion; fragment of a tabula with borders in dentellid decoration; a complete tabula in red, white and purple; small parts of a clavus with floral and animal embroidery. 27 grams total, 5.4-24.2 cm



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector. London collection, 2016.

The fragments are decorative parts of tunics. These are fabrics of great decorative finesse, with some elements displaying an unusual and extremely well-preserved colour palette.

Two fragments of distinctive blue-painted pottery and one from a Mycenaean vessel. 221 grams total, 7.2-16.5 cm



Acquired in March 1979. From the private collection of Peter Clayton, FCILIP, Dip, Arch, FSA, FRNS, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK; formed since the late 1950s. Accompanied by an old handwritten information card by Peter Clayton, collection no.143.

The largest blue-painted fragment likely comes from the neck, and the smaller from the body, of a large storage vessel; intact examples of these vessels have been found at Amarna (cf. Seyfried, F. (ed.), In the Light of Amarna: 100 Years of the Nefertiti Discovery, Berlin, 2012, pp. 288-289, Cat. no. 68, for a near-complete example). Amarna has yielded the largest quantity of Late Helladic (LH IIIA2) Mycenaean pottery in Egypt. Analysis has revealed that several Mycenaean sherds excavated at Amarna in Egypt come from a production site in the northern Argolid, probably in the Mycenae-Berbati region.