Francesca Hickin
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Lot 171
An Egyptian serpentinite heart scarab pectoral for Pra-em-nekhu
28 November 2019, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £9,437.50 inc. premium
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An Egyptian serpentinite heart scarab pectoral for Pra-em-nekhu
New Kingdom, Ramesside, 19th Dynasty, circa 1292-1213 B.C.
Of rectangular shrine form, the front carved in relief with a scarab beetle set within a banded border, representing the inlays on a coloured plaque, the back with four lines of incised text naming the owner, Pra-em-nekhu, and preserving the beginning of the heart scarab formula from the Book of the Dead, chapter 30B: 'Recitation by the Osiris Pra-em-nekhu, true of voice. He says: 'Oh my heart, oh heart of my mother, oh heart of my manifestations'', all set within a banded border, 5.7cm high, 5cm wide
New Kingdom, Ramesside, 19th Dynasty, circa 1292-1213 B.C.
Of rectangular shrine form, the front carved in relief with a scarab beetle set within a banded border, representing the inlays on a coloured plaque, the back with four lines of incised text naming the owner, Pra-em-nekhu, and preserving the beginning of the heart scarab formula from the Book of the Dead, chapter 30B: 'Recitation by the Osiris Pra-em-nekhu, true of voice. He says: 'Oh my heart, oh heart of my mother, oh heart of my manifestations'', all set within a banded border, 5.7cm high, 5cm wide
Footnotes
Provenance:
J.-A. Mariaud de Serres (1920-1999) collection, formed 1950s-1960s; and thence by descent to J.-P. Mariaud de Serres (1944-2007).
W. Arnold Meijer collection, Europe, acquired from the above 2001.
Exhibited:
Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum, Objecten voor de Eeuwigheid, 17 November 2006-25 March 2007.
Published:
C.A.R. Andrews and J. van Dijk (eds), Objects for Eternity: Egyptian Antiquities from the W. Arnold Meijer Collection, Mainz, 2006, p. 129-130, no. 2.35.
In order to be granted eternal life after death, the deceased had to appear before a divine tribunal, presided over by Osiris, and be judged to have been innocent of wrongdoing on earth. The weighing of the deceased's heart informed this judgement, and was able to expose the deceased as a liar if his declaration of innocence did not match his conduct when alive. Spell 30 of the Book of the Dead urges the deceased's heart to not testify against him when being weighed, and was frequently reproduced on heart scarabs, which were then placed on the chest of the mummy. From the New Kingdom onward, such heart scarabs were often embedded in a pectoral, typically shaped as an Egyptian shrine.
Though the text of Spell 30 is only partially reproduced, the rest of the text is implied: 'Do not stand up against me as a witness, do not oppose me in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the presence of the keeper of the balance...'
Pra-em-nekhu is believed to be either a son or grandson of Sennedjem, whose tomb in Deir-el-Medina was excavated in 1885-6. A large portion of the tomb finds were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in 1886, including a small shabti box named for Pra-em-nekhu (inv. no. 86.1.14a-c; complete group of objects inv. no. 86.1.1-29). The lack of titles on this pectoral may indicate that Pra-em-nekhu died young. For similar, see examples at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inv. no. 2021 and 2022, and the British Museum, London, inv. no. EA7858.