An Egyptian Gneiss (“Chephren Diorite”), 5th/6th Dynasty, 2520-2195 B.C.

For a related vase, less broad in form, compare W. M. F. Petrie, The Funeral Furniture of Egypt, with Stone and Metal Vases, Warminster, Wiltshire, 1977 (first published in 1937), pl. XXVIII, no. 598.

Royall Tyler was an art historian, collector, and international financial expert based in Paris. In the 1920s and 30s he assembled a collection of Egyptian, Persian, and Byzantine art, acquired mainly from dealers in Paris such as Dikran Kelekian and Joseph Brummer.

Other fine Egyptian hardstone vases from his collection were sold by Sotheby’s December 8th, 2011, nos. 38-39, June 7th, 2012, nos. 1-2, June 3rd, 2015, nos. 2-5, and July 3rd, 2018, nos. 47-50.

The Chephren diorite jar was probably acquired by Royall Tyler in the early 1930s, a period when he was collecting along with Hayford Pierce (brother of the artist Waldo Pierce),his co-author for his books on Byzantine art. It appears in a photograph by Giraudon, stamped on the back “Giraudon Photographe-Editeur, 9 Rue des Beaux Arts, Paris-VI, Teleph GOB 48-13” (see the 4th and 5th image in the photo carousel).