Details

LOT 0099

Roman Rock Crystal Gemstone with Sobek

1ST CENTURY A.D.

5/8 in. (1.24 grams, 15 mm).

Lentoid in section with engraved image of the crocodile-headed god Sobek, wearing a broad collar and pleated kilt, advancing with a spear, wearing the Pa-sekhemty crown; supplied with a museum-quality impression. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From the Fadel family collection, London, UK, 1970s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Literature

Cf. West, N., 'Gods on Small Things: Egyptian Monumental Iconography on Late Antique Magical Gems and the Greek and Demotic Magical Papyri,' in Smith, A.C., Bergeron, M.E. (eds.), The Gods of Small Things, Pallas 86, Toulouse, 2011, p.160, fig. 30g, for a gem with a standing Sobek; Kockelmann, H., Der Herr der Seen, Sümpfe und Flußläufe 1, Wiesbaden, 2017, pp.96-97, for discussion of the crowns worn by Sobek.

Footnotes

The primary centres of worship for Sobek during the Roman Period were Medinet el-Fayum (ancient Shedet) in the Fayum region and Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt, where live crocodiles were kept within the temple precincts. Sobek was associated with other deities and the pharaoh, symbolising procreative and vegetative fertility, as well as strength and power.