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An Egyptian very Fine Faience Seated Open-work Sekhmet
Catalogue:
Antiques:
Regional Art:
Ancient World:
Egyptian:
Faience:
Pre AD 1000 item# 846774
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click for details
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Glenn Howard Ancient Art, Ltd.
phone 303.657.6004
4700 USD
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An Egyptian lion-headed goddess Sekhmet seated on an open-work throne, the sides of which are decorated with figures of the snake god, Nehebka. The goddess carries a sistrum. Bright blue with added details in black.
Third Intermediate Period, c.950-700 BC.
Intact with no restoration. A real gem!
6 cm.
Sekhmet
Sekhmet was the lioness-headed goddess of war and destruction. She was the sister and wife of Ptah. She was created by the fire of Re's eye. Re created her as a weapon of vengeance to destroy men for their wicked ways and disobedience to him (see The Story of Re).
Having once unleashed her powers for the destruction of mankind, the Egyptians feared a repeat performance by Sekhmet. The Egyptian people developed an elaborate ritual in hopes she could be appeased. This ritual revolved around more than 700 statues of the goddess (such as the one to the left). The ancient Egyptian priests were required to perform a ritual before a different one of these statues each morning and each afternoon of every single day of every single year. Only by the strictest adherence to this never-ending ritual could the ancient Egyptians be assured of their ability to placate Sekhmet.
She is generally portrayed as a woman with the head of a lioness surmounted by the solar disk and the uraeus. The name "Sekhmet" comes from the root sekhem which means "to be strong, mighty, violent".
She was identified with the goddess Bastet, and they were called the Goddesses of the West (Sekhmet) and the East (Bastet). Both were shown with the heads of lionesses although Bastet was said to wear green, while Sekhmet wore red.
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Egyptian Glazed Compisition Set of Four Sons of Horus
Catalogue:
Antiques:
Regional Art:
Ancient World:
Egyptian:
Faience:
Pre AD 1000 item# 846742
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click for details
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Glenn Howard Ancient Art, Ltd.
phone 303.657.6004
1,750 USD
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Complete set of the Egyptian Four Sons of Horus. Brown glazed composition. Intact, not restoration.
Late Period 664-332 BC
Ex-New Jersey collection
17 cm average hight
Imsety
Imsety's jar held the liver - Since the liver was thought of as the seat of emotion, a broken heart was the form of death attributed to the deity. Thus the name of this deity became the kindly one, which is Imsety in Egyptian.
Guardian of the South
Protected by the goddess Isis -
Appearance human headed - Because the Egyptians saw the liver as the seat of human emotion, the depiction of Imsety was of a mummified human.
Hapy
Hapy's jar held the lungs - Since drowning was the form of death associated with the lungs, the deity gained the name geese, in reference to floating on water, and later gained the name runner, in reference to river currents.
Guardian of the North
Protected by the goddess Nephthys
Duamutef
Duamutef's jar held the stomach - In war the most significant cause of death was from injuries in the torso and stomach. The deity protecting this organ was associated with death by war, gaining the name Duamutef meaning adoring his motherland
Guardian of the East
Protected by the war goddess Neith.
Appearance - jackal headed
Qebehsenuef
Qebehsenuef's jar held the intestines - this organ was used in sacrificed animals, by soothsayers, to predict the future, whereas the intestines were also the victims of poison. With death by poison, the canopic jar deity was given the name Qebehsenuf meaning the poisoner.
Guardian of the West
Protected by the poison goddess Selket
Appearance - falcon headed
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An Egyptian Bronze Ptah
Catalogue:
Antiques:
Regional Art:
Ancient World:
Egyptian:
Bronze:
Pre AD 1000 item# 846737
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click for details
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Glenn Howard Ancient Art, Ltd.
phone 303.657.6004
SOLD
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A wonderful Egyptian bronze Ptah. Nice patina. Very clean example with good form.
Late Period 664-332 BC
From old American collection.
13 cm.
Ptah
Ptah (Pteh, Peteh) was the predynastic Mennefer (Hikuptah, Memphis) god of craftsmen, pottery and creation. The Egyptians believed that he was a god who created everything from artifacts to the world egg to the other deities themselves. The Opening of the Mouth ceremony was believed to have been devised by him. He was a god of creation and rebirth.
Ptah was usually depicted as a bearded mummiform man, wearing a close fitting skull cap. Only his hands come out of his shroud, and he was usually shown holding a staff that incorporated the djed pillar, the ankh symbol and the was scepter.
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An Egyptian Rare Bronze Khnoum Finial
Catalogue:
Antiques:
Regional Art:
Ancient World:
Egyptian:
Bronze:
Pre AD 1000 item# 846735
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click for details
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Glenn Howard Ancient Art, Ltd.
phone 303.657.6004
SOLD
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A wonderful Egyptian bronze rare Khnoum finial. Nice clean piece.
Late Period 664-332 BC
From old American collection.
15.2 cm.
Khnoum (Chnum) - The God of the Origin of the Nile
He was shown with the head of a ram with horizontal horns. He was one of the earliest Egyptian Gods, originally the God of the Origin of the Nile. Because the Nile brought the life-giving soil, he was considered the Creator God of human children. He used a potter's wheel to make the children. With his two wives, Satet and Ankeet, they were the trinity of the first cataract area on the Nile near today's Aswan. The center of his cult was on Elephantine Island.
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An Egyptian Rare Mummified Crocodile
Catalogue:
Antiques:
Regional Art:
Ancient World:
Egyptian:
Pre AD 1000 item# 846344
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click for details
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Glenn Howard Ancient Art, Ltd.
phone 303.657.6004
SOLD
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Rare Egyptian crocodile. Painted eye detail clearly still remaining.
Crocodile mummy within wrappings
Late Period - Ptolemaic period
Sobek, God of Crocodiles, Power, Protection and Fertility...
Sobek (Sobeq, Sebek, Sochet, Suchos) was an ancient god of crocodiles, first mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. His worship lasted till Roman times, the people of Egypt worshiping him to gain his protection and strength, or reviling him and killing the crocodiles of the area because of the evil that they could do. To his worshipers, he was a god who created the Nile, a god of fertility and rebirth, and the symbolic strength of the ruler of Egypt.
Depicted either as a crocodile-headed man or as a full crocodile, Sobek was shown wearing a plumed headdress with a horned sun disk or the atef crown. In his hands he was shown to carry a was sceptre and the ankh sign of life. His sacred animal, the crocodile, was both revered and reviled by the people of Egypt - in some areas, a tame crocodile was worshiped as the god Sobek himself, while in other places the reptiles were killed. The Egyptians seemed to both respect and fear the power of the crocodile, and as the result of this, Sobek was seen as an ambivalent creature.
During the 12th and 13th Dynasties, the cult of Sobek was given particular prominence, as the names of such rulers as Sobekhotep and Sobekneferu indicate. Sobekneferu (1799-1795 BC) was the sister (and maybe the wife) of Amenemnhat IV (1808-1799 BC), was the last ruler of the 12th Dynasty - the first definite female pharaoh of Egypt. There were eight rulers of the 13th Dynasty with the birth name of Sobekhotep, including Sobekhotep II Amenemhat (c. 1750 BC), Sobekhotep III Sekhemrasewadjtawy (c. 1745 BC) and Sobekhotep IV Khaneferra (c. 1730-1720 BC).
-- British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson
The crocodile's power to snatch and destroy it's prey was thought to be symbolic of the might of the pharaoh - the strength and energy of the reptile was a manifestation of the Pharaoh's own power. The word 'sovereign' was written as crocodile determinative crocodile determinative hawk determinative yt. This way, the crocodile - and thus Sobek - was linked to the pharaoh, the sovereign of Egypt.
In times of need, he gives the pharaoh strength and fortitude so that he may overcome all obstacles. He also protects the pharaoh from all harm, especially evil magic.
-- Sobek, Tour Egypt
Originally, Sobek was probably a dark god who had to be appeased to give the people his protection against crocodiles. Sobek had a dark streak that stayed with him for the time he was worshiped. In The Book of the Dead, he was showed as four crocodiles who were believed to attack the deceased in the underworld. This dark side sometimes put him in the camp of Set. In one version of the tale of Osiris, Isis had to place Horus into a little boat of papyrus reeds to protect him from a menacing Sobek. His form of a crocodile - one of Set's creatures - linked him closely to the enemy of Horus. It was believed that Set turned himself into a crocodile to escape from Horus, and Sobek was punished for allowing this.
Several by names of Set have the determinative of the crocodile*. Although crocodiles may be the baw bas of Sobek, they may also be regarded as the messengers of Set. Set may be called msh crocodile determinative msha [crocodile]. On the other hand, msha, the crocodile, is sometimes called the son of Set. It would be a mistake to deduce from this that Set is the father of a particular mythical son, in the way Osiris is the father of Horus. The intention is merely to express that a dangerous crocodile is a Setian product.
-- Set, God of Confusion: A Study of his Role in Egyptian Mythology and Religion, H. te Velde
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Very Rare and Important Egyptian Faience Sow Amulet
Catalogue:
Antiques:
Regional Art:
Ancient World:
Egyptian:
Faience:
Pre AD 1000 item# 845071
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click for details
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Glenn Howard Ancient Art, Ltd.
phone 303.657.6004
Price on Request
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An Egyptian Faience amulet of the God Nut. Sow Goddess with her piglets.
We have yet to see a finer example EVER produced from ancient Egypt in this form of the Sow amulet, this includes the Egyptian museum in Cairo. We know of no other example finer than this one!
Egypt's Third Intermediate Period - 26th Dynasty.
3.2 cm
Ex-Drouot-Montaigne - Paris
In Ancient Egypt, the sky-goddess, Nut, was depicted as a sow suckling or swallowing her piglets which are the sun and the stars. According to their beliefs, Nut would swallow the stars every morning and vomit them into the sky every evening. She would also swallow her piglet, the sun, every evening and spit him out in the morning. In this way, the sun and the stars were reborn each day before beginning their journeys across the sky. In honor of Nut, Ancient Egyptians wore pig amulets. Another pig was thought to follow the evil god of darkness, Set, brother and murderer of Osiris. Black pigs were sacred to Set and thought to be malevolent. Early Egyptians kept, sacrificed, and occasionally ate pigs even though they considered them unclean.
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