ANCIENT EGYPTIAN RELIEF
LIKELY LUXOR, EARLY 26TH DYNASTY, C. 660 - 650 B.C.
£7,491
Classical Ancient Art // Form Through Time
Auction: Form Through Time - 21st March 2024 at 2pm
Description
carved limestone, depicting a man wearing a menat necklace and leopard skin over his shoulder tied with a decorative sash, the panel of hieroglyphics to his left identifies the individual as a son of the tomb-owner:
“his son, the god's servant of Amun, Kham[...]”
raised on a bespoke mount
Dimensions
19cm high, 23cm wide
Provenance
Provenance:
Private collection, Europe, circa 1980s based on old metal frame and Andre Chenue & Fils label
Galerie Orient-Occident, Paris
Subsequently in the collection of the Egyptologist, William Kelly Simpson (January 3, 1928 - March 24, 2017)
Footnote
Note:
Here we see a portrait of the son of an unknown individual who died in the early years of the 26th Dynasty. He is depicted in his father’s funerary procession. From both his garments (leopard skin and the distinctive amulets added to his necklace) and the hieroglyphics panel we know that he is a priest of the god Amun. This would make him a contemporary of the powerful official Mentuemhat (c. 700 B.C. – 650 B.C.), a priest of Amun in Thebes who ultimately rose to become de facto pharaoh of Upper Egypt during the turbulent years of the 25th – 26th Dynasties. Indeed, the present piece can be compared with a large limestone relief depicting Mentuemhat in his robes as a priest of Amun and carrying the wand used to consecrate food offerings to the god, now on display at the Cleveland Museum of Art, accession number 1949.492