Fawcett Collection Egyptian Stone Age Knapped Chert Axe with Fawcett Monogram

Upper half of a mummiform figure (feet missing), with a black-painted tripartite wig, crossed arms subtly modelled in relief, and hands holding hoes rendered in black; two globular water pots (?) on the back, with a bold black line beneath; a hieroglyphic text on the lower body, reading: 'The Osiris Wennefer'; mounted on a display stand. 61 grams total, 11 cm including stand



Acquired from the Egyptian Exploration Society, 30th June 1965, for 2 shillings and sixpence. 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.118.

Wennefer, a common name, particularly in the New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period, which loosely translates as 'the perfect being', was also an epithet of Osiris.

Depicted as a woman's head with cow ears, her eyebrows and cosmetic lines carefully defined, with her eyes retaining traces of inlay. 0.96 grams, 28 mm



From the collection of a UK gentleman, London, UK, by descent from his family collection 1970s.

This particular appearance of Hathor, with a human head and cow ears, often appears on columns, particularly in temples associated with goddesses or mammisi-temples ("birth houses"), which were devoted to the birth of a goddess's divine son. The form also appears in the decoration of sistra used in Hathoric and birth-related rituals. Therefore, this diminutive gold image embodies Hathor's symbolic protective potency in all matters maternal.

Rectangular panel with incised decoration in three registers: the top line reads: '...Per-ankh, Per-aa, Semer-heb(?)', names of two institutions, 'House of Life' and 'Great House', and a title, possibly 'courtier of the council'; the second line reads '...imakhu netjer-aa', meaning 'honoured before the Great God'; the lower register preserves the upper body and profile head of a man with shoulder-length hair, wearing a broad collar, with face and body painted red and hair black; mounted on a custom-made stand. 17.7 kg total, 51 cm including stand



with Archaeologia, Switzerland, before 1983. Ex private North American collection. London private collection, 2016. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13447-260649.