EARLY DYNASTY XVIII, CIRCA REIGN OF HATSHEPSUT OR TUTHMOSIS III, CIRCA 1479-1425 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE HEAD OF A PHARAOH
EARLY DYNASTY XVIII, CIRCA REIGN OF HATSHEPSUT OR TUTHMOSIS III, CIRCA 1479-1425 B.C.
Wearing nemes-headdress, with remains of double coils of a uraeus above the head-band, the eyes with traces of black pupils, and ears carved in detail, traces of gessoed red pigment, some restoration, mounted
9¼ in. (23.5 cm.) high

Provenance

Wilhelm Horn (1870-1959), Berlin; acquired from R. Blanchard, Cairo, 2 March 1933.
Reputedly from Deir el Bahri.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The head may have come from a sphinx, cf. W. C. Hayes, The Scepter of Egypt, Part II, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1959, p. 94, fig. 51, no. HUP1959, for a colossal red granite sphinx in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. During Wilhelm Horn's lifetime various scholars examined the head, dating it to either Dynasty XVIII or XIX. H. Junker and P. Newberry, who had seen it in Cairo, believed it was dateable to the early New Kingdom (reign of Hatshepsut, 1473-1458 B.C.). H. Schäfer left it open as to whether it belonged to Dynasty XVIII or Dynasty XIX. Kurt Lange made a detailed study of the head, placing it between the reign of Amenophis I and Amenophis II (1525-1400 B.C.).

Although the head is ancient, it was probably broken in two parts and substantially restored across the central part of the face, so making an absolute identity uncertain.

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