Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search
Previous Lot
Next Lot
A substantial Egyptian limestone seated pair statue image 1
A substantial Egyptian limestone seated pair statue image 2
A substantial Egyptian limestone seated pair statue image 3
A substantial Egyptian limestone seated pair statue image 4
The Lloyd and Jeanne Raport Collection (Lots 111-143)
Lot 132*

A substantial Egyptian limestone seated pair statue

Antiquities
4 December 2025, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

£150,000 - £200,000

How to bidHow to buy

Ask about this lot

A substantial Egyptian limestone seated pair statue

Old Kingdom to First Intermediate Period, 5th-11th Dynasty, circa 2450–2025 B.C.
50cm high, 43cm wide, 34cm deep

Footnotes

Provenance:
Armand Trampitsch (1890-1975) Collection, Nancy, France.
Collection A. Trampitsch, Ader Picard Tajan, Paris, 26 November 1984, lot 95.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York. (Royal-Athena Galleries, Art of the Ancient World, Vol. IV, New York, 1985, p.132, no. 401).
Lloyd and Jeanne Raport Collection, Washington DC and Florida, acquired from the above (Royal-Athena appraisal dated 11 February 1986).

This is believed to be an unfinished work evidenced by the incomplete features.

Pair statues of a man and woman were frequently placed within a serdab from the Old Kingdom, which was a hidden chamber for housing a statue of the deceased preserving their ka (spirit). Whilst the female is slightly smaller than the male sculpture, the equal scale of both statues are representative of the importance of the seated female, appearing as almost equal to the male figure. Common in pair statues, is the hair forming a frame for the face. The female figure in this sculpture is seated slightly apart from the male figure with her left arm extending behind the male figure, wrapping around his waist.

For an example of a seated couple from the 4th Dynasty, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Egyptian Art: In the Age of the Pyramids, New York, 1999, p.290, no.82. 'Pair Statue of Katep and Hetep-Heres seated.'

With incomplete features, specifying the exact date is more challenging. For a short angled wig, similar to the Trampitsch seated male, but on a Second Intermediate Period sculpture, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a statue of Siamun (circa 1580-1550 B.C.), obj. no. 65.115.

Additional information