An Egyptian jasper head
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10
An Egyptian glass and steatite male head
New Kingdom, late 18th Dynasty, circa 1336-1327 B.C.
Probably from a shabti, composed of a red glass face and neck, the facial details finely moulded with incised lidded eyes, brows, and ears, wearing a black steatite duplex wig with curved beaded lappets, the top of the wig with straight strands and incised border details around the fringe, the back flat with a circular hole and a cut-off underside, presumably for attachment to the rest of the figure, some gilding remaining, 30mm high
Sold for £198,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

  • Provenance:
    Sir Nevile Lubbock Collection (1839-1914), acquired in Egypt from the Keeper of the Cairo Museum in 1862-3. Thence by descent.
    Accompanied by a note stating the above and that '..Dr Budge says it was part of a Scarab. 1200 BC made of steatite (soap stone), the face is glass, the head is the owner of the scarab'.

    Literature:
    It most likely that the head came from a shabti rather than a composite statuette. For a similar red glass head, but with a wooden wig, cf. J.D. Cooney, Catalogue of Egyptian Antiquities in The British Museum, IV, Glass,, London, 1976, p. 154, no. 1784. This head can be dated to the post-Amarna period due to the double wig which became popular towards the end of the 18th Dynasty, and also the heavy creased eyelids which can be seen in images of Tutankhamun. For further discussion of the type cf. E.M. Stern & B. Schlick-Nolte, Early Glass of the Ancient World, 1600 B.C.-A.D. 50: Ernesto Wolf Collection, 1994, pp. 140-1, no. 10.

Category: Antiquities

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