An Egyptian mummiform falcon
Ptolemaic - Roman Period, circa 305 B.C.-100 A.D.
The painted gesso body decorated with horizontal bands imitating mummy wrapping decorated with disc motifs in white on a coral pink coloured ground, the face with details in black including a tripartite wig, the eyes outlined in red and black, with a short black hooked beak, containing a mummified falcon, 11¼in (28.5cm) high, mounted
Ptolemaic - Roman Period, circa 305 B.C.-100 A.D.
The painted gesso body decorated with horizontal bands imitating mummy wrapping decorated with disc motifs in white on a coral pink coloured ground, the face with details in black including a tripartite wig, the eyes outlined in red and black, with a short black hooked beak, containing a mummified falcon, 11¼in (28.5cm) high, mounted
Sold for
£8,400
inc. premium
Footnotes
- Provenance:
German private collection, Munich, formed pre-1990. Accompanied by three 'X' ray images.
Literature:
It is most likely that the mummified falcon originates from the Saqqara region, where thousands of falcon mummies were buried in the late Ptolemaic Period, cf. Davies/Smith, The Sacred Animal Necropolis of North Saqqara: the Falcon Complex and Catacomb, the archaeological report, Egypt Exploration Society, Excavation memoir 73, London 2005.
Category: Antiquities
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