Lapis Lazuli Bead Necklace String

Restrung group of tubular, biconvex and other types with teardrop pendant centrepiece. 8.9 grams, 36.5 cm



London, UK, collection, 2000s.

Comprising: large ceramic shabti with agricultural tools in the crossed hands, some pigment to wig; mould-formed shabti with hieroglyphs to lower body; shabti in conical cap with hieroglyphs in column to lower body, chipped to reveal inner core; photograph of four travellers in Thebes with handwritten legend (two different hands) to reverse 'David Boyd, Bill Nichols, Bert Lethbridge + eric Lowe at the Colossi of Memmon at Thebes on Christmas Day 1939'; in old card collector's tray with padded liner. 884 grams total, 15.4-21.7 cm



Property of a Norwich, Norfolk, UK, gentleman.

Iron flat-section shaft with three tiered cross-bars, the two lowest each with five iron lamp-bowls to the forward face; above, a U-shaped bar with a lamp bowl at each upper end; top of the shaft developing to an anthropomorphic torso with ellipsoid head and two narrow arms raised vertically; chain around the neck with hand-forged extinguishing spoon; mounted on a square base; Dogon, Mali, workmanship. 6.25 kg total, 132 cm including stand



From the private collection of Dr Hans-Joachim Koloss, Berlin, Germany, 1975-2002. Gorny & Mosch, Munich, Germany, auction 279, no.410. Accompanied by a copy of the Gorny & Mosch invoice and illustrated catalogue listing. Accompanied by a copy of the German cultural export licence.

The figure is probably a Nommo, a primordial ancestral spirit in Dogon cosmogony. A Nommo is usually considered to be amphibious, hermaphroditic and fish-like. They are typically depicted in Dogon art with a humanoid upper torso, and a fish-like lower torso and tail.