Bonhams 1793 : An Egyptian green anorthosite gneiss fragment of a seated female figure

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24 Oct 2012 10:30 BST London, New Bond Street
Antiquities
Back to auction 20021

An Egyptian green anorthosite gneiss fragment of a seated female figure
Late Dynastic Period, circa 664-332 B.C.
Depicting on a throne, wearing a long fitted dress, the belly rounded with a drilled navel, the sides of the throne decorated with an incised scale pattern above a continuous band of 'sma' signs of unification on one side and a band of ankh symbols, the reverse with two incised registers, the upper depicting a ka falcon wearing a sun disc, the lower depicting the Nile gods of the North and the South pulling ropes around the symbol of unification, 6in (15.2cm) high

Sold for £5,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

Provenance:
French private collection, Paris.
Garcin Collection, formed between 1930s-1950s.

Literature:
The quarry of Toshka was known as the sole producer of gneiss starting during the Old Kingdom, though there is a lack of evidence relating to later activity at Toshka and exploitation of the quarry appears to have ceased by the end of the 12th Dynasty. The few examples of later statues in this stone are recarved from earlier pieces. For a discussion of the subject, cf. Nicholson and Shaw (eds), Ancient Egyptian Utensils and Technology, Cambridge University Press, 2000, p.33.

For a bronze of Sekhmet on a similar throne, cf. S. Schoske and D. Wildung, Got und Götter im Alten Ägypten, Munich, 1993, fig. 41.

Category: Antiquities

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