Archaeology – Antiquity

CALICE with fluted carination and incised bands. Bucchero nero. Pedestal glued back together. Etruria, 7th-6th century B.C.H. 14.5 cm Restoration to the pedestal. Expert : Daniel LEBEURRIER - Galerie Gilgamesh

TALL EGYPTIAN FAIENCE STATUETTE OF THE GODDESS SEKHMET - Late to Ptolemaic Period, Ca. 664 - 30 BC. An Egyptian faience statuette of Sekhmet, the lioness-headed goddess of the sun, destruction, war, and healing. Sekhmet is standing, wearing a form-fitting, ankle-length gown, and holding a rattle-like instrument known as a sistrum in her right hand. Her feline face presents with recessed eyes, furrowed brows, tapered snout, and a short mane. She is depicted wearing a tripartite wig upon which sits a uraeus. Her feline face betrays a piercing look and is framed by the lappets of her wig. The hieroglyphs on the back reads as: "May Sekhmet grant protection (literally embrace) and life forever". There is a cylindrical suspension loop. For similar see: Accession Number: 26.7.868. Size: 105mm x 25mm; Weight: 75g Provenance: Provenance: Prince collection, 1990s-2014; Ex. private collection, Wanfercee-Baulet, Belgium. This item has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database and comes with a confirmation letter.

Pyriform ALABASTRE decorated with stripes, tongues and dots Beige ochre terracotta with brown glaze. Etruscan-Corinthian workshop, late 7th century B.C. H.: 7.6 cm Expert : Daniel Lebeurrier - Galerie Gilgamesh

NEW KINGDOM EGYPTIAN RELIEF DEPICTING A HIGH OFFICIAL - New Kingdom, XVIIIh Dynasty, reign of Amenhotep IV-Akhenaten, Ca. 1353 - 1336 BC. A sandstone relief depicts a high official originally sitting in front of a balance. He is depicted according to the new artistic canons: feminine breast, prominent belly, long and expressive face, thin arms with long hands and tapering fingers. His right arm is raised in a gesture of command, and his left arm is bent at elbow, with the hand gripping a scribe's writing palette. The man wears a transparent robe and thickly wavy wig, typical elements of clothing in Amarna Period. A hieroglyphic text divided into four columns shows the titles and the unfortunately incomplete name of the person. However, it is possible to reconstruct his name both based on the hieroglyphs, albeit incomplete and based on the titles: he is probably Huya, a high official of Pharaoh Akhenaten and steward of Queen Tiye, Pharaoh's mother. Behind the figure of Huya we can see the bust of a standing figure with a shaved head, represented in smaller dimensions than Huya. The column of hieroglyphs above it shows only his name: Meh, he was probably a servant of Huya. Along the right side, the fragment has a raised edge, which allows us to affirm that it comes from the corner area of the wall of a tomb. The relief fragment was part of a larger scene of weighing the gold of the tributes, an activity in which Huya in his function of “Overseer of the Double Treasury” presided. The piece is dated to the late New Kingdom, precisely during the reign of the “heretic Pharaoh” Amenhotep IV-Akhenaten (1353-1336 BC). In addition to revolutionising Egyptian religion, by imposing the cult of the solar disk Aten, he gave impulse to a new artistic style, characterised by exaggerated forms, called 'Amarna art' by scholars, from the name of the village of Tell el-Amarna, in Middle Egypt, the place where stood the ancient city of Aketaten “Horizon of the Sun-Disk”, founded by Akhenaten to be the new capital of Egypt. For similar see: La storia della scultura del Mondo, Egitto1978, p. 146 fig.2. This piece is accompanied by a report from Simone Musso, consultant curator for Egyptian antiquities at the Stibbert Museum, Florence, Italy, member of the Nuri Archaeological Expedition. Size: 420mm x 410mm; Weight: 9.15kg Provenance: Property of a London collector; formerly with Mayfair family S. A., acquired from a London professor in the late 1970s. This item has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database and comes with a confirmation letter.

RARE EGYPTIAN STONE AND WOOD PSEUDO-CANOPIC JARS - Ptolemaic period, XXI Dynasty, Ca. 332 - 30 BC. An extremely rare group of four pseudo-canopic jars from ancient Egypt. Each jar features a gently rounded shoulder and a deep interior cavity. The finely carved lids rest comfortably within the bevelled inner rim of the vessels. The lids feature the shapes of the four sons of Horus. The tops are made of painted cedar wood with most of their original colours well preserved. For similar see: British Museum Museum number EA9563; EA59197. This piece is accompanied by a report from Simone Musso, consultant curator for Egyptian antiquities at the Stibbert Museum, Florence, Italy, member of the Nuri Archaeological Expedition. Size: 220-225mm x 90-95mm; Weight: 5.84kg Provenance: Private London collection, M.A.; Ex. Mayfair family collection, S.A.; formerly acquired from a London professor in the 1970s. This item has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database and comes with a confirmation letter.

Highly significant late Gothic bowl, so-called Omphalos bowl. Silver. Flat, cylindrical stand surrounded by horizontal lines. Slightly hollowed, wide bowl. The wall decorated all around with broad, rotating fish-bubble decoration, the smooth rim zone with a single row of punched pearl bands above stylized flowers of seven-point punched and matching dotted decoration. Domed round mirror framed by two delicate decorative lines, so-called navel. Curved leaf tendril in relief over a chased ground, framing a central round medallion with three intertwined fish. Undisturbed; weight approx. 280 g. H. 4 cm. D. 21 cm. Enclosed: Expertise Prof. Dr. Richter from 05.03.2024. The Roman "patera" and the Greek "phiale" have existed since antiquity. These were equally flat, round bowls, decorated in the center with a bulging navel (Greek "omphalos"). They were originally used as sacrificial bowls or for purification, but were later also used as drinking bowls. The three intertwined fish in the middle of the bowl refer to an early Christian symbol of the Trinity, as the unity of God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The so-called fish-bubble decoration probably came to Europe from Asia or Persia via the trade routes. The different cultural influences came together in Venice in particular, the flourishing trading city, and made the port city famous for the production of extraordinary and important art objects. Silver bowls of this type are typical of the late Gothic period. In the 16th century, they were made in a similar way but mostly from copper or brass, such as the so-called cymbal bowls from Nuremberg. A footed bowl with the same raised navel with three intertwined fish, the typical fish bladder decoration and the punched flower rosettes, attributed to Venice 1480 - 1490, is in the Victorian & Albert Museum in London (inv. no. 274-1881), along with another bowl with a different decoration (LOAN:GILBERT.544-2008). A very important probably Italian, Venice Gothic silver footed bowl. Unmarked. Accompanied by an expertise from Prof. Dr. Richter, March 2024. Probably Italy. Venice. Circa 1500.

SKYPHOS with black glaze and stamped decoration of four palmettes in the background. Beige terracotta with black glaze. Slight wear to glaze. Italy, Campania, 4th century B.C. D. 13 cm Expert : Daniel LEBEURRIER - Galerie Gilgamesh

JUG with globular body and wide handle. It is incised with six-spoked wheels and a thick staking band. Bucherro nero. Etruria, 8th-7th century B.C.H. 12.5 cm Small chips. Expert : Daniel LEBEURRIER - Galerie Gilgamesh

A group of ancient and later faience, hardstone and glass beads and amulets, Including two Egyptian udjat eyes, 26th-30th Dynasty, circa 7th- 4th century BC, bright blue glazed pendants, mummy beads, a seated figure on a pyramidal stepped base and a reclining cat, scarabs and other items, including a bronze ring (a quantity) Provenance: The largest udjat eye ex-Major James Findley collection, Aberdeen (1915-1990); acquired 1950s-60s, Bonhams, 3 July 2019, part lot 206 (illustrated); the reclining cat collected by Herbert Warner in Egypt 1890-91.