An Egyptian Limestone Pyramidion inscribed for Bekenamun, New Kingdom, 1540-1075 B.C.

No Reserves

Lot Closed

December 17, 01:57 PM GMT

Estimate

2,000 - 3,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from an English Private Collection

An Egyptian Limestone Pyramidion inscribed for Bekenamun

New Kingdom, 1540-1075 B.C.

carved in relief on one side within a recessed rectangular niche with a standing figure of Horus wearing a sidelock, a column of inscription on either side invoking Osiris, Lord of Busiris, on behalf of Bekenamun.

Height 33 cm.

This lot is sold with no reserve. Please refer to the conditions of business on the website for information on lots sold with no reserve.

Samuel Leigh Sotheby, London, Catalogue of the Very Magnificent and Extraordinary Collection of Egyptian Antiquities... of Giovanni d'Athanasi, March 13th, 1837, no. 138 (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=awxRAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA14#v=onepage&q&f=false)

John Lee, 1783-1866, Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire, acquired at the above sale

Edward Holroyd Pearce, Baron Pearce (1901-1990), thought to have been acquired by him at auction in London, perhaps at Christie's

by descent to the present owner

RECORDED
Griffith Institute, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, inscription rubbing no. III.78 by John Williams, betw. 1830-1840, the relief figure described as "fig(ure of) Horus", with the note "In the possession of Dr. Lee"

PUBLISHED
Exhibition catalogue of Giovanni d'Athanasi's Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, c. 1836, no. 533 ("a small pyramid, with a Figure of Horus standing in a Sanctuary, with a line of Hieroglyphics on either side")
Joseph Bonomi, Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Museum of Hartwell House, 1858, no. 593, https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bvcGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA88#v=onepage&q&f=false ("Pyramid, whose sides are not flat, but which have an irregular entasis. On one side is a square niche, as if representing the entrance of the tomb, in which stands the figure of a female child with a lock of hair proceeding out of the right side of the head. Purchased at the sale of Sig. Athanasi.")Agnès Rammant-Peeters, Les pyramydions égyptiens du Nouvel Empire, Leuven, 1983, p. 101 [1]
Jaromir Malek, "New Kingdom Pyramidia," Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, vol. 76, 1990, p. 184, fig. 3