AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE AMUN

LATE PERIOD, 25TH-26TH DYNASTY, 712-525 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE AMUN
LATE PERIOD, 25TH-26TH DYNASTY, 712-525 B.C.
Solid cast and finely detailed, the god depicted seated on a throne atop an integral rectangular plinth, his legs parallel, his feet bare, wearing a short wrapped kilt with the curving hem crossing his thighs, adorned with a multi-strand broad collar, armlets and bracelets, his left arm held forth with his fisted hand facing down and resting on his thigh, his right arm bent and held above his leg, likely once holding a scepter, his youthful oval face with full lips and a straight mouth, his arching brows merging with the bridge of his nose, the eyes with white sclerae, the pupils bronze, his ears prominent, wearing his characteristic flat-topped headdress
9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm.) high

Provenance

Property of a Gentleman; Antiquities, Christie's, London, 12 December 1967, no. 198.
The Late Sir A. Chester Beatty (Sold by Order of the executors); Ancient Jewellery, Egyptian and Western Asiatic Antiquities, Islamic Pottery, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Sotheby's, London, 18 June 1968, lot 16.
Private Collection, Westchester, New York.
Antiquities, Sotheby's, New York, 10 December 2009, lot 56.

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Lot Essay

Amun rose to prominence as the king of the Egyptian pantheon during the 11th Dynasty, as evinced by the fact that four Pharaoh's of that dynasty took the name Amenemhet or "Amun is pre-eminent." He came to be worshipped as a creator, solar and fertility god, as well as a universal god. He was most often portrayed as he is seen here, in human form wearing a short kilt and flat-topped headdress, often surmounted by plumes (see pp. 92-97 in R.H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt). For an Amun similarly rendered, but with the right arm on his thigh and the left arm held forth, see no. 320, pp. 426-427 in L.M. Berman, Catalogue of Egyptian Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art.

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