Catalog: Antiques: Regional Art: Ancient World: Egyptian (43)

Rare terracotta group with a rat and two mice seen side by side gnawing on the bait of a mousetrap.
According to Pedrizet perhaps an ex-voto offered by a person whose house or granary was infested with mice and rats.
Published as item no. 417, p. 151, pl. 120 (center right) in: Paul Perdrizet. Les terres cuites grecques d’Égypte de la collection Fouquet. Paris 1921. (copy of the publication record joined)
For a rat trap, cf...

Nike crowns a victorious gladiator. She stands on a sphere and holds a palm frond in her left hand.
The secutor she crowns waves the sword. His opponent sways with his head bowed and a deep wound on the side. His hand drops the sword. He is fatally injured.
Ex Daniel Fouquet (1850-1914) collection, published as item no. 445, p. 157, pl. 90 in: Paul Pedrizet. Les terres cuites grecques d’Égypte de la collection Fouquet. Paris 1921...

Handle-ornament decorated in relief with a shepherd reclining on an acanthus, playing double-pipes. A lyre hangs from the tree which is shading him, on the left a sheep that looks on.
Triangular handle ornament from a mold made pottery lamp. Broneer type XXI (very rare with figural decoration). Light brown clay, covered with a brown slip. Ink inscribed back: 1278, and label underneath 1278.
Published as item no. 356, p. 131, pl. 99 in: Paul Pedrizet...

Terracotta figure of Harpokrates with the attributes of Herakles, lion skin and knobby club, in the crook of his left arm.
Harpokrates is depicted with the sidelock of a child. The head is expertly modeled with wide, heavy-lidded eyes, a broad nose, and fleshy lips.
Harpokrates wears the Egyptian headdress with stripes and the threefold Atef-crown.
The youthful god is shown nude with the right forefinger close to the lips...

Coptic tunic decoration, called clavus, with four registers containing a lion, a hare, a spotted lion and hare.
Wool on linen
Coptic, 4th/6th century AD
Textile size: 18 cm (7.1 in) x 4 cm (1.6 in)
Frame: 27 cm (10.6 in) x 15.5 cm (6.1 in)
Fragment, excellent condition.
Estate of Christian Grand, renowned Swiss art dealer, acquired 1900-1950.

The authenticity of the object is unconditionally guaranteed.

Human-headed Ba-bird with tripartite wig and false beard, the head surmounted by a disk.
The wings lean close to the body, the feet show powerful claws. The back is flat.
Superb made with much use of the modeling tool.
The Egyptian idea of the Ba conceives a free-soul (Freiseele, Exkursionsseele) capable of independent existence from the body. It thus leaves and reunites with the body at will...

Terracotta figure of a seated baboon, animal sacred to Thot, the Egyptian god of writing and other intellectual pursuits.
Crisp facial features with pronounced supra-orbital ridges, deep set eyes and a dominant, protruding muzzle. The cheek fur and the upper body cape are typical for male baboons...

Votive figure of a naked woman, standing with her arms to the thighs. The head shows schematic features and a casket like wig. Schematic rendering of the body, crudely carved in the round.
Enhanced with red and black painted decoration. Red for the necklaze, the upper arm bracelets and the (decorative lines) around the shins. Remains of black on the hair and the pelvic triangle.
Freestanding figures are comparatively rare...

Wall fragment rendered in sunk hieroglyphs showing a nicely carved vulture over a shallow bowl and the sign for bread. The sequence mentions the goddess Mut and can be completed to the recurring epithet ‘Mut mistress of the sky’ [Mwt nbt pt].
The feet of another bird appear over the vulture.
Mut was an ancient Egyptian sky goddess and great divine mother. During the 18th Dynasty she formed the Theban triad together with the god Amun and her youthful son Khons. The name Mut also...

Large openwork amulet plaque with the udjat eye set inside a rectangular frame. The tear duct rests on the feather of Maat.
Green glazed composition with black pupil and brow. Incised details.
Double sided, pierced longitudinally.
For a similar example, cf. fig. 46 in: Carol Andrews. Amulets of Ancient Egypt. London 1994.
Faience
Egyptian, Third Intermediate Period, 21st to 25th Dynasty, 1069-664 BC
W. 4.3 cm (1.7 in)
H. 3.9 cm (1.5 in)
Exc...

Amuletic figure of the canine god Wepwawet depicted on the bar of a standard. The front of the sledge is curved like a billowing sail and integrates a couple of rearing uraeus cobras.
The jackal wears a dog collar, the suspension loop behind is partially preserved. This small example was intended as a protective amulet.
For a related example, cf. acc. no. 23.6.6 in the Metropolitan Museum database.
The jackal god Wepwawet, also known as ‘Opener of Paths’, helped the dece...

Wooden animal sarcophagus, perhaps intended for a serpent, fashioned as a shrine with nice cavetto cornices on top and a vertical sliding door in front.
Carved from a single piece of cedar with interior grooves to fit the front panel.
These kinds of shrines could house mortuary statues, mummified remains of animals or symbols associated with a particular deity.
For a snake coffin in the Brooklyn Museum, cf. inv. no. 37.1358E. For a shrew coffin with sliding door, cf. inv. no...

Seated bronze cat with arched back and noble posture of the head. The tail curled around to the front. The small head with beady eyes and erect ears, mouth and nose engraved.
The cat features very long forelegs and a small chest, on which appears an incised necklace with a rudimentary Eye of Horus pendant.
Cats were the embodiment of Bastet, goddess of Bubastis and patroness of joy and women.
Bronze
Egyptian, Late Period, 26th-30th Dynasty, 664-332 BC
H. 8.3 ...

Upper part of the seated Isis nursing the Horus child (Harpokrates). The miniature scale head shows detailed facial features. The goddess wears the tripartite wig surmounted by a crown in the shape of the st-seat sign, the hieroglyphic sign used to write her name.
With her right hand she is presenting her left breast to her son, which is now lost.
Moldmade. Pale green to white faience with glossy surface.
For a related example, cf. fig. 154, p. 55 in: Aurélia Masson. Scarab...

Egyptian head with side lock, probably of Harpokrates, the infant son of Isis and Horus.
The face shows almond shaped eyes, a flattish nose, and slit mouth. The well preserved left ear appears just below the partially present side lock. The neck slightly bent to the figure’s left side.
The head most likely belongs to an ithyphallic limestone figure. For a related example, cf. acc. no. ST58 in the British Museum database.
Crudely carved from soft limestone. Covered in/with ...

Egyptian terracotta fragment of Harpocrates riding a horse, whose mane can be guessed on the right.
The youthful god is dressed in a short tunic and wears a stippled floral wreath topped by the Egyptian double crown. Harpokrates is shown with the right forefinger to his mouth.
Harpokrates was the infant son of Isis and Horus and symbolized both youth and fertility. Harpokrates was revered as the patron deity of childhood.
Hollow figure made of two halves, traces of a circul...

Large head of Serapis shown with a fulsome beard and fringed hairdo over the forehead. On the crown a closed modius decorated with an olive branch.
The face with a small nose and flat eye cavities with thin eyelids. The mouth enclosed by a stringy moustache.
Modeled in the round. Two-piece mold with cursory back side. Remains of the original gesso layer in the cavities. Nice Hellenistic style.
Large-sized heads of Serapis are relatively rare. They are to be considered as vot...

Terracotta head of Harpocrates wearing the double crown of Egypt flanked by lotus buds.
The expertly modeled face shows almond-shaped eyes with sharply defined eyelids, a broad nose, and fleshy lips. The head is bald except for small tufts of hair and the side lock of a child.
Harpokrates, the infant son of Isis and Horus, symbolized both youth and fertility. Harpokrates was revered as the patron deity of childhood.
For a close parallel, cf. item no. 29 in: Eva Bayer-Niemei...