LATE PERIOD, CIRCA 664-332 B.C.

Wadjet was the tutelary deity of Lower (northern) Egypt, the area of the Nile Delta. She was one of the "Two Ladies," the vulture goddess Nekhbet being the other. Every Pharaoh included in his long and complicated titulary a "Two Ladies" name. This was usually listed second in the order of his titles. More commonly represented as a cobra or a woman with a cobra head, she was often represented as the uraeus, a rearing cobra on the crowns of pharaohs, signifying her role as a protector of kings and a guardian of the land. In some depictions however, the Egyptian goddess Wadjet is portrayed with a lioness head, symbolizing her fierce protective nature. This lion-headed form connects her to other warrior goddesses like Sekhmet, emphasizing her role as a guardian of pharaohs and the land of Lower Egypt. As a lioness, Wadjet embodies both the nurturing and defensive aspects of motherhood, fiercely protecting her people and the king. This duality highlights her powerful association with protection, warfare, and divine justice in ancient Egyptian mythology. For a seated bronze figure of Wadjet with similar uraeus, see an example in the Louvre Museum, inv. no. E 3791.

This Wadjet was formerly in the collection of Charles Gillot (1853-1903), a Parisian inventor and collector. Charles's father, Firmin, invented the gillotage, a photoengraving technique that allowed for the simultaneous printing of text and images. Charles improved this technology throughout his life while he also amassed an important collection of ancient, Islamic, Japanese and medieval works of art. The majority of Gillot's collection was dispersed at auction in 1904 by the Durand-Ruel gallery with a later sale, 104 years later, conducted by Christie's Paris.