Lot 17
  • 17

An Egyptian Greywacke Figure of a Man, late 26th/30th Dynasty, circa 600-342 B.C.

Estimate
600,000 - 900,000 USD
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Description

  • An Egyptian Greywacke Figure of a Man
  • Height 13 7/8 in. 35 cm.
kneeling on a high rectangular base and holding an enthroned figure of ram-headed Khnum on his lap, and wearing a kilt with wide belt and central tab, his idealizing face with outlined lips deeply indented at the corners, straight nose, and finely contoured eyes, a barely visible line indicating his close-cropped hair, the inscriptions on the back pillar and base erased in antiquity.

Provenance

Henry Salt (1780-1827), collected in Egypt between 1824 and 1827, said to have been found "in the Temple of Bubastes, Lower Egypt" (Sotheby's, London, Catalogue of the Highly Interesting and Magnificent Collection the Property of the Late Henry Salt, Esq., His Britannic Majesty's Late Consul General in Egypt, June 29th-July 8th, 1835, no. 838)
Sir Charles John Greville (1785-1836), Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, acquired at the above sale
Collections of the Earls of Warwick (Sotheby's, London, June 12th, 1997, no. 341, illus.)

Literature

Giovanni d'Athanasi, A Brief Account of the Researches and Discoveries in Upper Egypt, made under the Direction of Henry Salt, Esq., [...] to which is added a Detailed Catalogue of Mr. Salt's Collection of Egyptian Antiquities; Illustrated with Twelve Engravings of some of the most Interesting Objects, and an Enumeration of Those Articles purchased for the British Museum, London, 1836, p. 221, no. 838, pl. IX
Henry T. Cooke and W. Drake, An Historical and Descriptive Guide to Warwick Castle, Kenilworth Castle, Guy's Cliff, Stoneleigh Abbey, the Beauchamp Chapel, and other Places of Interest in the Neighborhood, 6th ed., Warwick, 1849, p. 48 (in "The Cedar Drawing Room:... on a Marqueterie table in the east window, a dying gladiator, in bronze, an Egyptian bust, and a very curious and valuable image, in green basalt, brought by Mr. Salt from Egypt, and purchased at his sale by Sir C. J. Greville")
The Tourist's Shilling Guide to Warwick and Neighborhood, Warwick, 1880, p. 31
Ward and Lock's Pictorial Guide to Warwickshire, 1882, p. 70
A Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to Leamington Spa, Warwick, etc., 1904, p. 52
Sotheby's, New York, Antiquities, May 31st, 1997, advertisement
Minerva, vol. 8 [5], September/October 1997, p. 45, fig. 16
Jaromir Malek, Diana Magee, and Elizabeth Miles, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs, and Paintings, vol. VIII, Oxford, 1999, p. 828, no. 801-750-450

Condition

Very good and as described, the smallest toes are missing and the breaks were polished up, small chips along edges of base, minor nicks and scratches overall, possible area of recutting along proper right edge of kilt tab, surface may have been somewhat smoothed over and shows remains of a black oily substance with which the figure appears to have been once entirely covered
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Henry Salt (1780-1827) became British Consul-General in Egypt in 1815, and during the course of the next decade carried out numerous excavations with the purpose of obtaining antiquities for the British Museum. Giovanni Belzoni among others excavated under his supervision, and he was in close contact with Champollion. Salt also acquired  for his own account, forming collections he later sold to the British Museum and the Louvre. The magnificent sarcophagus of King Sety I was bought by Sir John Soane for his London museum. Salt's final collection was sold in 1835 at Sotheby's in London, the 1083 lots being among the first antiquities sold there.

Lucas describes greywacke, often confused with schist or basalt, as a "fine-grained , compact, hard, crystalline, quartzose rock, very like slate in appearence and generally of various shades of grey, ranging from light to dark, with sometimes a greenish tint," as in the present statue. He states that possibly the "only ancient source... was in the neighborhood of the Wadi Hammamat... where there are extensive ancient quarries with more than 250 inscriptions ranging in date from the protodynastic period to the 30th Dynasty" (A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 4th ed., revised and enlarged by J.R.Harris, Oxford, 1962, pp.419-420).

For the cap-like indication of natural hair cf. B.V. Bothmer, Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1960, pl. 9, no. 9, pl. 63, no. 166, and pl. 107, no.115. The author notes (p.11) that "By far the overwhelming majority of all heads, however, are either bald (or shaven) or are covered by a wig".   For related sculpture of the 30th Dynasty compare Bothmer, op.cit., pl. 77, no. 81, pl.81, no. 85, and pl.84, no. 89; of the first, the striding statue of Ankh-pa-khered in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he writes that  the "Thin plastic eyebrows and cosmetic lines, a straight nose and small mouth complete the picture of dignified, formal reticence, which characterizes so much of the sculpture of this period."