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Details
LOT 2117
Grand Tour Steatite Scarab with Hieroglyphics
19TH-20TH CENTURY A.D.
3 1/2 in. (256 grams, 89 mm).
Anatomical detailing to the carapace, head and legs, underside with nine lines of hieroglyphic text, replicating the royal scarab of the Pharaoh Amenhotep III (ca. 1390–1352 B.C.), commemorating a lion hunt. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From a private, UK, collection in the 1980s.
Property of a London, UK, antiquarian.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Literature
Cf. Kozloff, A.P., Bryan, B., and Berman, L.M., Egypt's Dazzling Sun: Amenhotep III and his World, Cleveland, 1992, p. 69, no.2, for a discussion of an original scarab of this type.
Footnotes
This is a replica of one of several commemorative scarabs issued by Pharaoh Amenhotep III to celebrate various events. The text reads: May he live, the Horus, Mighty Bull Who Appears in Maat; the Two Ladies, Establisher of the Laws and Pacifier of the Two Lands, the Horus of Gold, Great of Strength Who Smites the Asiatics; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Nebmaatre; the Son of Re, Amenhotep Ruler of Thebes, endowed with life; and the King’s Great Wife Tiye, may she live! The number of lions (hunted) from regnal year 1 down to regnal year 10, lions 102.
In 2019, an original lion hunt scarab was sold at Christie's in New York for $106,250!
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