ANOTHER PROPERTY
An Egyptian Basalt Basin-bearing Figure of the Customs Chief Wahibre, Reign of Amasis, 570-526 B.C.
This lot has been withdrawn
Lot Details
Description
An Egyptian Basalt Basin-bearing Figure of the Customs Chief Wahibre
Reign of Amasis, 570-526 B.C.
kneeling on an integral base, wearing a broad rounded wig, and holding a fragmentary offering basin before him, two separate fragments of the basin preserved, the back pillar engraved with a column of hieroglyphic inscription translating "the count, the overseer to the entrance to the hill countries, the chief supervisor of the shrines [of Neith], Wahibre, the son of Paeftchawy," the top of the basin's fragmentary rim inscribed with a ritual formula addressed to Hathor to be read during the offering of the basin's contents, the rim carved with a head of Hathor in front.
Height of kneeling figure 40 cm., basin fragments 31 by 56 cm. and 44 by 19.2 cm.
for the figure:
European private collection, mid 19th Century
Christie's, New York, June 8th, 2001, no. 114, illus.
Drouot-Richelieu, Paris, Boisgirard, February 14th, 2005, no. 313, illus.
European private collection, acquired at the above sale
European private collection, by descent from the above (Sotheby's, London, December 7th, 2021, no. 45, illus.)
acquired at the above sale by the present owner
for the two basin fragments:
private collection, United Kingdom, acquired in the 1970s/1990s
princely collection
Rupert Wace Ancient Art, London, acquired from the above in 2017
Published
Jaromir Malek, Diana Magee, and Elizabeth Miles, Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings, vol. VIII, part II, no. 801-752-150
Olivier Perdu, Les statues privées de la fin de l'Égypte pharaonique, 1069 av. J.-C - 395 apr. J.-C., vol. 1, Paris, 2012, p. 165 and 167, note 17
Olivier Perdu, "Un témoignage modeste mais significatif concernant le chef des douanes Ouahibrê," Revue d'égyptologie, vol. 70, 2020, p. 199, doc. 14
Oliver Perdu, "Ouahibrê en officiant de la déesse d'or (nbwt). Les statues bassinophores revisitées," forthcoming in Bulletin de l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 2024
The customs official represented here, Wahibre, son of Paeftchawy, is known from fourteen other statues, including a block statue in Paris (Louvre, A 91: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010018089#fullscreen) and a kneeling naophorous figure in London (British Museum, EA 111: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA111). A fragment from his mummiform sarcophagus was found at el-Hagar, in the territory of his native city of Sais. The various titles inscribed on his monuments refer to his priestly functions, but also to his administrative and military responsibilities in southern Egypt, where he was chief customs officer and led the contingent of foreign troops protecting the frontier.
The present kneeling figure and basin fragments were circulating independently of each other until Olivier Perdu discovered that they belonged together. They are being reunited here for the first time since their appearance on the market.
You May Also Like
