
Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
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Sold for £6,875 inc. premium
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Head of Department
Provenance:
Ernst Kofler (1899-1989) and Marthe Truniger (1918-99) collection, Lucerne.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 18 December 1996, lot 57.
Private collection, New York, acquired at the above sale.
The vulture headdress appears to have originated with the goddess of Upper Egypt, Nekhbet. It was later used by other goddesses and, no earlier than the 5th Dynasty, by the queens of Egypt, to highlight the role of goddesses as royal mothers (see A.K. Capel & G.E. Markoe (eds.), Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven. Women in Ancient Egypt, Cincinnati, 1996, p. 114). The present lot probably represents either Hathor or Isis.