An Egyptian Black Basalt Head of Tuthmosis III, 18th Dynasty, reign of Tuthmosis III, 1479-1426 B.C.

wearing a striped nemes headcloth with fragmentary uraeus, and fragmentary beard with incised beard-straps, his youthful face with finely carved almond-shaped eyes and long incised eyebrows and cosmetic lines.

Rex Ingram (Dublin, Ireland, 1893-Los Angeles, 1950)
Alice Terry Ingram (Vincennes, Indiana, 1900-Los Angeles, 1987)

A.N. Abell Auction Co., Los Angeles, 1988
Robert Moore, Los Angeles (Sotheby's, New York, June 23rd, 1989, no. 37, illus.)

ARCE Newsletter, vol. 146, Summer 1989, p. 24
Jaromir Malek, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues Reliefs and Paintings, vol. VIII: Objects of Provenance not known, Part 1: Royal Statues. Private Statues (Predynastic to Dynasty XVIII), Oxford, 1999, p. 117, no. 800-732-775

As shown and described, note damages to nose and elsewhere. The back has a few superficial chips and abrasions, except on the edges of the nemes headcloth where the damage can be noted in the profile photo in the catalogue. The profile not shown is much the same. The surface of the very hard stone is worn in places, especially on the eyebrows and cosmetic lines, as if by rubbing.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Cf. H. Satzinger, Das Kunsthistorische Museum in Wien. Die Ägyptisch-Orientalische Sammlung, Vienna, 1994, pp. 20-21.

The present head appears to show the king early in his reign, during the co-regency with Queen Hatshepsut.

Rex Ingram was among the greatest movie directors of the silent film era, alongside D.W, Griffith, Cecil B. de Mille, and  Erich von Stroheim. His best known film was The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, produced in 1921, and starred Rudolph Valentino and Alice Terry. She and Rex Ingram were married in the same year.

His adventurous life story is chronicled by Liam O'Leary, Rex Ingram, Master of the Silent Cinema, Dublin, 1980. The author writes that in his later life Rex Ingram traveled widely, especially in North Africa, and had residences in Cairo and Nice (the "Villa Rex") as well as Los Angeles. Also a fine draftsman and sculptor, his many friends included George Bernard Shaw and Henri Matisse. In the later 1930s he loaned his art collection to the Cairo Museum. Ingram returned to Cairo after the war to retrieve it, including some pieces which had made their way to King Farouk's palace. Other than to mention "Arab art", O'Leary provides no further details about the collection, but we know now that it included three superb Ottoman yataghans, sold in the same Los Angeles sale as his head of Tuthmosis III, one of which, from the Court of Suleyman the Magnificent, was later acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 1993.14). These were reputedly a gift from his friend T.E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia).

Although Sotheby's sold the present head in 1989, we learned only recently that it had once belonged to Rex Ingram, as did lot 35 in the present sale, the Ptolemaic royal head, sold here in 1980. It is remarkable that both Egyptian royal heads would unknowingly be reunited in the collection of the late Dodie Rosekrans.

For Dodie Rosekrans see page 16