LOT 0055

Large Egyptian Blue Faience Taweret Vessel

LATE PERIOD, 26TH DYNASTY, 664-525 B.C.

6 3/4 in. (160 grams total, 17.3 cm including stand).

Composite animal figure with a hippopotamus's head and body, a crocodile's tail, and a human torso with arms, topped with a finely striated tripartite wig; the right hand, positioned beneath the left nipple, encloses a drilled hole connecting to the hollow body; a hole at the top of the head; mounted on a custom-made stand.

Ex private French collection, since the early 1990s.
Acquired from Galerie Reiner, rue Bonaparte, Paris.
Artcurial, Paris, 6 November 2013, no.55.

Accompanied by an academic report by Egyptologist Paul Whelan.
Accompanied by a copy of French passport no.150578.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13189-249212.

Cf. Guichard, H. (dir.), Des animaux et des pharaons, le règne animal dans l'Égypte ancienne, Paris, 2014, p. 194, ill. p.
194, no. 165, for a similar vessel in the Louvre (inv. no. E 14232).

The vessel’s shape indicates it was likely used in magical and libationary rituals meant to invoke Taweret’s protective powers during childbirth and maternity. Usually depicted as a female hippopotamus with lion-like arms and legs and a crocodile’s back and tail, Taweret remains one of the most distinctive and recognisable deities in the Egyptian pantheon. Her name comes from the Egyptian word for "great" or "large" (tꜣwꜣrt), emphasising her powerful and protective nature.