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An Egyptian basalt head of a priest image 1
An Egyptian basalt head of a priest image 2
Lot 36*

An Egyptian basalt head of a priest

Antiquities
7 December 2021, 12:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £17,750 inc. premium

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An Egyptian basalt head of a priest
Ptolemaic Period, circa 332-30 B.C.
The shaven-headed man naturalistically carved, the mature features with heavy lidded eyes and crow's feet creases at the outer corners, with fleshy cheeks and down-turned mouth, 16.5cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Harold Lee Decker (1945-1989) collection, VA.
Estate of Harold Decker; Scott & Company, Norfolk, VA, 6-7 October 1990.
Norman Fletcher Goodwin collection, acquired at the above auction, until 2019.

For centuries Egyptian sculptors had portrayed men's features in an idealised manner, but during the Ptolemaic Period artists began to create images of 'real' people and demonstrated true portraiture skills. They often portrayed older statesmen-like faces, such as the above lot, whose well lived-in features indicates his high status and power. For a discussion of such portrait heads cf. B. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 700B.C. to A.D. 100, The Brooklyn Museum, 1961, pp. 136-137 and 143, including similar portrait heads, pls. 87, 95, 97, 98 and 99.

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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
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