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An Egyptian limestone figure of a vervet monkey playing a harp image 1
An Egyptian limestone figure of a vervet monkey playing a harp image 2
The Resandro Collection of Ancient Art (Lots 14-49)
Lot 19*

An Egyptian limestone figure of a vervet monkey playing a harp

The Classics Online: Antiquities, Clocks, European Ceramics
22 November – 9 December 2024, 12:00 GMT
Online, London, New Bond Street

Sold for £2,816 inc. premium

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An Egyptian limestone figure of a vervet monkey playing a harp

New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, circa 1550-1292 B.C.
5.9cm high

Footnotes

Provenance:
Resandro collection, Europe, primarily formed late 1960s-1997 (R-136 (HP 23)), possibly listed on a loan agreement from 1985.

Published:
I. Grimm-Stadelmann (ed.), Aesthetic Glimpses, Masterpieces of Ancient Egyptian Art, The Resandro Collection, Munich, 2012, p.41, no. R-136.

For another, see A. Wiese, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig die Ägyptische Abteilung, Mainz, 2001, p. 124, no. 83, which has the monkey's infant clinging to her back. Wiese notes that similar motifs can be found on Ramesside ostraca, and suggests that they are probably characters from animal fables that are not known to us because their tales were only passed down orally. See also two small limestone statuettes depicting monkeys eating fruit and grooming, in R. Freed, Y.J. Markowitz, S.H. D'Auria (eds), Pharaohs of the Sun, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamun, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1999, p. 256, nos 176-177; Markowitz suggests that these playful, diminutive figures depicting monkeys imitating human behaviour may have been toys, and were a popular novelty household item in the Amarna period.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

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