LOT 0059

Very Large Egypto-Phoenician Alabaster Alabastron with Hieroglyphic Inscription

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-LATE PERIOD, CIRCA 1077-525 B.C.

14 5/8 in. (420 grams, 37 cm).

Crafted from banded calcite or alabaster, the vessel is characterised by a barrel-shaped profile, broad shoulders, a short, flared neck, a rounded base, and two lateral loop handles near the shoulders, with a localised row of incised hieroglyphs around the upper shoulder, naming a priest of Amun, Nespakhashuty, and a partially preserved filiation that may be restored as Djed[djehuty-]iu-[ef-]ankh.

Formerly in a private collection, Beirut, Lebanon, 1990s.
Swiss private collection, acquired from Mr H., Geneva, 2010.

Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate, no.S00059830
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13221-249178.

Cf. Moscati, S., I Fenici (The Phoenicians), Milano, 1988, p.234, for examples of Phoenician alabastra with Egyptian hieroglyphics; Aston, B.G., Ancient Egyptian Stone Vessels: Materials and Forms, SAGA 5, Heidelberg, 1994, p.89, fig.18, no.218, for a similar vessel (without inscription); Montet, P., Les constructions et le tombeau d'Osorkon II a Tanis, Paris, 1947, pl. XLVI, for a large alabaster vessel inscribed with hieroglyphs from the tomb of the Third Intermediate Period pharaoh Osorkon II (circa 872 to 837 B.C.), located in the royal necropolis of Tanis in the Nile Delta.

Nespakhashuty and Djed-djehuty-iu-ef-ankh are names associated with a powerful family dynasty from the late New Kingdom to the end of the Third Intermediate Period. The vessel’s style supports a Third Intermediate Period dating, as it compares with a similarly large example inscribed with the cartouches of the 22nd Dynasty pharaoh Osorkon I (Montet, P., Les constructions et le tombeau d’Osorkon II à Tanis, Paris, 1947, p. 82, pl. XLVI).

In the Phoenician necropolises of Andalusia, the deceased's ashes were enclosed in luxurious alabaster urns of Egyptian manufacture. At Almuñécar, for example, some urns in the Phoenician necropolis preserved inscriptions and emblems of various Egyptian pharaohs, who ruled the Nile region between the 16th and 8th centuries B.C. Alabaster vessels of this type, originally containing fine wines, have been discovered, albeit in smaller numbers, in the royal palaces of Assur and Samaria in the East, as part of war booty or gifts exchanged between royal houses.