Lot 19
19
AN EGYPTIAN HEMATITE SCARAB INSCRIBED FOR PSAMTIK I
EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALAN M. MAY
AN EGYPTIAN HEMATITE SCARAB INSCRIBED FOR PSAMTIK I

LATE PERIOD, DYNASTY XXVI, REIGN OF PSAMTIK I, 664-610 B.C.

Details
AN EGYPTIAN HEMATITE SCARAB INSCRIBED FOR PSAMTIK I
Late Period, Dynasty XXVI, Reign of Psamtik I,
664-610 B.C.
The finely sculpted and highly polished beetle with well-detailed head and clypeus, the prothorax and elytra each framed by a single incised line, an additional line dividing the elytra, each side of which with a shallow V-shaped winglet, the legs naturalistically rendered, the underside of the beetle in openwork technique, standing on an oval plinth, the base finely engraved with the epithets, nomen and prenomen of Psamtik I enclosed within cartouches
1 in. (2.5 cm.) long
Provenance
with Nicholas Koutoulakis, Geneva, 1960s-70s.
Thalassic Collection, New York, circa 1992.

Lot Essay

The present scarab is one of the largest and finest known in hematite inscribed for Psamtik I. For two similar, but smaller examples see one from the Timins and later Carnarvon Collections and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession no. 26.7.259), pl. XXI, no. 11 in Newberry, The Timins Collection of Ancient Egyptian Scarabs and Cylinder Seals; and no. 4719 in Price, A Catalogue of the Egyptian Antiquities in the possession of F.G. Hilton Price, Vol. II (present whereabouts unknown).

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