30. STATuETTE Of A KNEElING PHARAOH IN A WHITE CROWN

30. STATuETTE Of A KNEElING PHARAOH
IN A WHITE CROWN
Bronze
This bronze statuette depicts a pharaoh kneeling on the ground
6 7/8 x 2 1/8 x 2 5/16 in. –
with his arms bent at the elbow and lowered so that his hands rest on his
17.5 x 5.4 x 5.9 cm
thighs. He is shown wearing a striated kilt, secured at the waist with an
Dynasty XXVI
ornamented belt. He wears a six-stranded broad collar around his neck
FGA-ARCH-EG-12
and the White Crown of Upper Egypt, once fronted by a now missing
uraeus, or sacred cobra. The features of his face are carefully modeled as
are his fingers and toes to the point of representing the nails themselves.
PROVENANCE:
Sotheby’s London, 28th May 1883,
lot no. 46
Lt. Gen. A. H. L.-F. Pitt-Rivers
(1827–1900) Collection, Farnham,
United Kingdom
Christie’s London, 12th December 1990,
sale 4432, lot no. 226
His wasp-waisted torso is designed in bipartition with both sides of the
sternal notch composed as mirror images of one another. As a result the
rib cage is suppressed so that the pectoral regions and lower abdomen
coalesce into one form. The belt of his kilt rides low on his hips and rests
beneath a deeply recessed almost tear-drop-shaped navel.
The gesture of his hands, held vertically with palms open and
facing each other and with their fingers close together suggest that the
EXHIBITIONS:
statuette was once supporting a now missing attribute which may either
Reflets du divin 2001
have been a divine image or a piece of religious furniture in the form of a
Ancient Egypt – Art & Magic 2011
shrine, perhaps with a divine image within. The elliptical depression in the
PUBLICATIONS:
PITT-RIVERS 1882–1883, vol. I,
p. 223, lot 46
CHAPPAZ and CHAMAY 2001,
p. 56, no. 41
HILL 2004, pp. 195–196, pl. 54, no. 127
center of the chest at the level of the biceps appears to be a footprint created at the point of contact or attachment between this attribute and the
statuette. The tang at the bottom of the feet indicates that this object was
originally affixed to a larger base forming part of a group composition, perhaps kneeling before a deity or inserted into the deck of a ceremonial boat
carried in religious processions.
BIANCHI 2011, pp. 182–183, no. 69
Bronze representations of pharaohs without accompanying inscriptions designed with idealizing physiognomic features are notoriously difficult to date. The somewhat round head of this example and
the observation that the crown rests very low on the forehead where it
almost touches the eyebrows invites comparison with monumental
stone sculpture inscribed for pharaohs of Dynasty XXVI, to which period
this statuette is suggested to date.
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31. lARGE STATuETTE Of THE APIS Bull
Bronze with white and
This unusually large, cast bronze statuette of a bull depicts the ani-
black stone inlays
mal striding forward on a rectangular, integral base. Its proper right eye still
6 5/16 x 2 9/16 x 6 5/16 in. –
retains its original inlays. Its body is ornamented with motifs conforming
16 x 6.5 x 16 cm
in their general design to the physical characteristics which each Apis bull
Dynasty XXVI
was ideally required to exhibit. The identification of this image as a depic-
FGA-ARCH-EG-371
tion of that sacred animal is assured. Those characteristics which can be
readily captured in the casting of bronze include a diamond-shaped blaze
on the forehead, an image of a vulture on the back, and double hairs on its
PROVENANCE:
tail. This object exhibits additional motifs including both a winged scarab
Mrs. Elias-Vaes Collection, early 1970s
and a tasseled blanket, the crossing-hatching ornamentation of which
Christie’s London, 29th April 2010,
sale 5487, lot no. 185
EXHIBITION:
Ancient Egypt – Art & Magic 2011
suggests an embroidered fabric, and a broad collar. His head is adorned
with a sun disc fronted by a uraeus.
The Apis bull was a hypostasis of the creator god of Memphis, and
was often regarded as that god’s herald. Such bronze statuettes are sug-
PUBLICATION:
gested to have been votive offerings deposited in sanctuaries by pilgrims
BIANCHI 2011, pp. 214–215, no. 85
either asking for prayers to be fulfilled or in thanksgiving for prayers having
been answered.
COMPARE:
Oxford, The Ashmolean Museum,
inv. no. 12879.332: MALEK 1999,
pp. 401–410
WEISS 2012, pp. 55–56 and pp. 293–294,
Type T 28, pl. 47a–j
This statuette appears to be a virtual clone, but on a smaller scale,
of a second in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. The details on both of
these objects are so correspondingly close, particularly in the strict correspondence and congruence of all of the incised motifs, that one can tentatively suggest they are contemporary and might even have been created in
one and the same atelier using what would appear to have been the same
pattern book.
The example in Oxford is inscribed for an official who served in the
court of a daughter of Pharaoh Psametik I, and may very well have been
created in a royal atelier. The correspondences it shares with this objects
suggest that both are contemporary, and may have been likewise produced in the same royal atelier.
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32. MENAT – AEGIS
Bronze with painted,
The design of this ritual object combines several separately cast
limestone inlaid eyes
objects, a menat, or counterpose, and an aegis, from the Greek word for
menat: 6 3/8 x 4 11/16 x 1 3/8 in.; –
“shield” here in the form of a broad collar surmounted by a human, female
16.2 x 11.9 x 3.5 cm;
head of a goddess, whose eyes are inlaid with limestone painted black to
aegis: 5 9/16 x 2 3/4 x 1 7/16 in. –
indicate the pupils. She wears a segmented, tripartite wig, on top of which
14.1 x 7 x 1.1 cm
is a separately cast modius, or circlet, adorned with uraei, or cobras. The
Dynasty XXVI
modius serves as the anchor for a pair of cow horns framing a sun disc.
FGA-ARCH-EG-409
Two consoles, striated but otherwise unarticulated, frame the tripartite
wig at the horizontal, top edge of the aegis proper, which is ornamented
with two, thin bands, the top with vertical striations, the bottom with
PROVENANCE:
Private Collection, Germany,
purchased in the 1950s
Rupert Wace Ancient Art, London,
10th December 2010, lot no. 12
incised, rotated chevron patterns, which intersect five concentric circles
of floral elements representing the traditional broad collar associated
with objects of this type. A wadjet, or sacred eye, forms the central motif
of this broad collar. To judge from the four ornamented lines above it, one
might suggest that the wadjet-eye is an amulet suspended from a second,
multiple-stranded necklace.
PUBLICATION:
CHAPPAZ 2012, pp. 53–55, fig. 13
COMPARE:
ROEDER 1956, pl. 64d, also g and i for
the menat
The menat itself is of traditional form featuring a shaft by which
the object was held in the hand, terminating below in a circular element.
A pair of hooded uraei, a sun disc on their heads, rests on the top of that
element attached to the handle, facing outward. The circular element
A close parallel is illustrated in
KAISER 1967, nos 821–822.
itself is adorned with a depiction of a falcon on a shrine, facing right, over
For a related example,
see PAGE-GASSER and WIESE 1997,
pp. 256–259, no. 171B.
as Horus in Chemmis.
A similarly inlaid aegis, but with
the head of Mut, is illustrated in
AUBERT and AUBERT 2001 , pl. 21;
pl. 19 illustrates a head of Isis but
without the extensive inlays.
WEISS 2012, pp. 367–369,
“Kragenprotomen”, pl. 63c–e
and p. 375, pl. 64d
Inscription p. 271
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a neb-sign ornemented with ripples of water. The image is to be identified
The handle itself is decorated with a figure of a standing goddess
to the right wearing a tightly fitting sheath, and a wig similar to that worn
by the goddess on the aegis. This is similarly adorned with a pair of cow’s
horns framing a sun disc. The goddess holds an ankh-sign in her lowered
hand and a papyrus scepter, a typical attribute for goddesses, in her raised
hand. She would appear to be standing within a shrine. The hieroglyphs
identify the goddess as, “Isis, the Great, the mother of the god.”
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