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Lot Essay
This rare amulet is in the form of two outward-facing cobras who’s merging tails arc across the convex solar disk between them. Their flaring hoods are well detailed, and there is cross-hatching along the lengths of their bodies indicating snakeskin. The ensemble is supported on a mat incised with four sets of four vertical lines, and there is a ribbed suspension loop on the reverse. For the iconography of the solar disk flanked by uraei, see R. Shonkwiler, “The Behdetite: A Study of Horus the Behdetite from the Old Kingdom to the Conquest of Alexander,” PhD. dissertation, University of Chicago, 2014, pp. 85ff.
This grouping is well known in Egyptian art and is an emblem for the sun god Ra. J. Cooney (no. 229bis in Muscarella, op. cit.) observes that while the sun in this grouping is traditionally thought of as a disk, “the existence of a convex form seemed to indicate that the Egyptians conceived of the sun as a globe.” The motif is rare in amulet form, which makes the dating challenging. When first published, Cooney suggested a New Kingdom date, late 18th Dynasty. Subsequent authors however have adopted a later dating. The use of blue chalcedony, never common in Egypt but extremely popular in the Achaemenid world for cylinder and stamp seals, might argue for a 27th Dynasty date, when Egypt was under Persian rule.
Norbert Schimmel was one of the twentieth century’s most well-known collectors of antiquities. In addition to amassing one of the most important collections of ancient art in the United States, Schimmel also supported archeological excavations in the Middle East and donated much of his collection to the Israel Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The amulet was mounted as a brooch in a removable gold setting by Harry Winston.
This grouping is well known in Egyptian art and is an emblem for the sun god Ra. J. Cooney (no. 229bis in Muscarella, op. cit.) observes that while the sun in this grouping is traditionally thought of as a disk, “the existence of a convex form seemed to indicate that the Egyptians conceived of the sun as a globe.” The motif is rare in amulet form, which makes the dating challenging. When first published, Cooney suggested a New Kingdom date, late 18th Dynasty. Subsequent authors however have adopted a later dating. The use of blue chalcedony, never common in Egypt but extremely popular in the Achaemenid world for cylinder and stamp seals, might argue for a 27th Dynasty date, when Egypt was under Persian rule.
Norbert Schimmel was one of the twentieth century’s most well-known collectors of antiquities. In addition to amassing one of the most important collections of ancient art in the United States, Schimmel also supported archeological excavations in the Middle East and donated much of his collection to the Israel Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The amulet was mounted as a brooch in a removable gold setting by Harry Winston.