Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I
Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I
Property from an English Private Collection
An Egyptian Polychrome Wood Coffin Panel, 21st/22nd Dynasty, 1075-716 B.C.
Auction Closed
December 7, 04:32 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from an English Private Collection
An Egyptian Polychrome Wood Coffin Panel
21st/22nd Dynasty, 1075-716 B.C.
painted with the god Osiris ("the Lord of Justification") flanked on the left by Waset ("the Lady of the West") and on the right by Thoth ("the Lord of Truth"), Osiris wearing an elaborately decorated shroud and the atef-crown, and holding the crook and flail, Waset resting one hand on the shoulder of Osiris, holding an ankh in the other, and wearing a long close-fitting dress, arm ornaments, broad collar, and tripartite wig surmounded by a high diadem, Thoth holding a writing palette and wearing a kilt, strap across his chest, and tripartite wig, in between the three figures two offerings of water on tall stands, two lotus flowers , and an Imiut fetish, the scene flanked by two columns of inscription reading in one "Recitation by Thoth, Lord of the Divine Word, the Scribe of Maat for the Ennead" and in the other "the Osiris Akhupuy who is in his [tomb ?...]", the Mountains of the West rising above, the profiles of the three figures elegantly drawn.
42 by 51 cm.
private collection, Hamburg, acquired prior to 1977, then by descent (Christie’s , London, July 6th, 2016, no. 8, illus., with endpaper detail)
Published
Wilhelm Hornbostel, Kunst der Antike. Schätze aus norddeutschem Privatebesitz, Museum fur Kunst und Gerwerbe Hamburg, Mainz, 1977, cat. no. 443
This is one of the few monuments of Egyptian art in which Thoth appears in human form and carrying a scribe's palette.
The Imiut symbol is known as far back as the 1st Dynasty, and consists of an animal skin, feline or cow, tied by its tail to a pole. Its meaning is unknown, but it is present in funerary rites and is associated with Anubis in later periods.