Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art
Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art
Property from a Swiss Private Collection
An Egyptian Bronze Figure of the Apis Bull, 26th/30th Dynasty, 664-342 B.C.
Lot Closed
December 17, 02:06 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from a Swiss Private Collection
An Egyptian Bronze Figure of the Apis Bull
26th/30th Dynasty, 664-342 B.C.
the sacred bull striding on a rectangular, and crowned by the sun-disk, the saddle-cloth and other details engraved.
Height without tenon 9.5 cm.
Carl Leonhard Burckhardt (b. 1902, Basel, d. 1965, Alexandria)
thence by descent
thence by descent
The Apis bull was one of the most prominent deities in the Egyptian pantheon, the worship of which is attested to as early as the 1st Dynasty, and continued through the end of the dynastic period. A symbol of fertility and regeneration, a living "representative' of the bull was stationed near the temple of Ptah in Memphis. During the reign of Amenhotep III in the 18th Dynasty, the location of the burials of these Apis bulls were built out into a large underground system of chambers called the Serapeum.