LATE PERIOD, 26TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 664-525 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE CANOPIC JAR LID IN THE FORM OF HAPI
LATE PERIOD, 26TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 664-525 B.C.
4 ½ in. (11.4 cm.) high

Provenance

Prof. Dr. Roland Bay (1909-1992), Orselina, acquired in the 1950s; thence by descent to the current owner.

Literature

S. Hermann, Le don du Nil: Art égyptien dans les collections suisses, Basel, 1978, p. 81, no. 281.

Exhibited

Le don du Nil, Art égyptien dans les collections suisses, Genève, Basel, Bern, Zürich, Luzern, 1978.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

Removing the internal organs of the deceased and placing them in canopic jars was an essential part of the Egyptian mummification process. By the New Kingdom, the four jars were fashioned in the likenesses of the four sons of Horus, falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, human-headed Imsety, jackal-headed Duamutef and baboon-headed Hapi, represented in the present example. Each god protected a particular organ, with the lungs being entrusted to Hapi.

More from Antiquities

View All