Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

An Anatolian marble idol
A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

A small Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone inscribed for King Sin-Kashid of Uruk
A Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Hittite bronze helmet with pelta-shaped cheek-pieces
A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
A Roman marble torso of a youth wearing a tunic
A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg
A Greek green glazed faience hedgehog aryballos
A Greek bronze hydria with siren handle-plate
A Greek terracotta figure of a woman
A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder
An Etruscan terracotta antefix of a satyr
An Etruscan bronze woman possibly dancing
An Etruscan bronze candelabrum
An Etruscan terracotta votive life-size left leg
An Attic black-figure Little Master band-cup with grazing deer and panther
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo
An Attic red-figure trefoil lipped oinochoe
An Attic black-figure lekythos
A European bronze dirk blade
Previous Lot
Next Lot
An Egyptian polychrome wood figure of a man image 1
An Egyptian polychrome wood figure of a man image 2
Lot 166

An Egyptian polychrome wood figure of a man

Antiquities
28 November 2019, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£3,000 - £5,000

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Antiquities specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

An Egyptian polychrome wood figure of a man
Middle Kingdom, circa 2025-1700 B.C.
The standing figure nude except for a belt tied at the waist, with large almond shaped eyes with extended cosmetic lines highlighted in black, and wearing a short black wig, remains of original wood pegs in the arm sockets, 14.1cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
with Koutoulakis, Paris.
Fritz Ephraim collection, acquired from the above in 1958.
with Antike Kunst, Göttingen, 2013.

Servant figures, such as the above lot, were commonly left in or near burial chambers to assist the deceased in the afterlife. Although originally carved from stone, wood became the material of choice from the end of the 6th Dynasty onwards. For a similar standing wood figure, wearing only a tied belt, see the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, acc. no. 22.28. The figures' heads and bodies were usually carved from one piece of wood with the arms attached separately with wooden pegs, as can be seen in the Walter's Museum example, and had painted, rather than carved features. Typically, male figures were depicted wearing a kilt, unlike the above lot which wears only a band of cloth tied at the hips. The parallel stance taken by this figure could be due to the fact that the sculptor did not have access to a large enough piece of wood to create the striding stance usually seen in these statuettes. For another nude male figure depicted standing rather than striding, see another example at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, acc. no. 22.227.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

An Anatolian marble idol
A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin
A small Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone inscribed for King Sin-Kashid of Uruk
A Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Hittite bronze helmet with pelta-shaped cheek-pieces
A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
A Roman marble torso of a youth wearing a tunic
A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg
A Greek green glazed faience hedgehog aryballos
A Greek bronze hydria with siren handle-plate
A Greek terracotta figure of a woman
A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder
An Etruscan terracotta antefix of a satyr
An Etruscan bronze woman possibly dancing
An Etruscan bronze candelabrum
An Etruscan terracotta votive life-size left leg
An Attic black-figure Little Master band-cup with grazing deer and panther
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo
An Attic red-figure trefoil lipped oinochoe
An Attic black-figure lekythos
A European bronze dirk blade