Ancient Egyptian Art

[Виктор Солкин]

The forum has raised the question about the art of the East by the example of China's remarkable collection of Cyril Galleries Danelia. I want to turn to Egypt, which, again in the gallery presented a very interesting monuments. Alas, apparently, Russia will not soon come to an understanding of the value of such ancient monuments, which in the West are extremely popular. Three years ago, for example, a statue of Queen Mut Tuyi, mother of Ramses II from the collection of family Harer was sold for more than $ 2 million to start the discussion and reference to the six lots in the December auction, Sotheby's:

The Egyptian section of trades, in 2009, quite small compared to the collections presented in the last five years. However, several works deserve attention and, of course, would amount to honor the best museum collections of Egyptian antiquities. Home unexpected upcoming auctions - sometimes very bold, and sometimes not even a particularly appropriate estimate on the background of several frankly under-appreciated works of art.

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The best memorial sculpture presented in the collection - a portrait of the royal granite era Tutmosidov originating from the Austrian assembly Nicholas von Arco, the core of which was collected in 1900-1920 gg. The height of the monument, made of granite, - 18,7 cm, estimate "Sotheby's" - $ 40-60 thousand person goes back to the luschim early portraits of Thutmose III, or to very similar with them portraits of Hatshepsut. Judging by the fragments of a three-part wig, it is possible that the statue could represent a deity endowed with the portrait similarity with the king.

Sculpture of the Late time is represented in the collection of superior head of the statue of the god Osiris, dated rule Psammetichus I (XXVI dyn.). Head height 12.1 cm, was once part of an impressive statue of the god, made of greywackes (Online auction house incorrectly listed basalt); feathers of the crown 'Atef' at the head of Osiris and his beard, bear traces of gilding. Apparently, the statue was close to the best image of Osiris, the era of so-called "Saisskogo renaissance", for example, the famous statue of the god of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The monument was published in 1960 by the prominent expert on ancient Egyptian sculpture Bernard Botmer and comes from the Belgian collection. Estimate surprisingly low - $ 15-25 thousand

A work of art is very high level - inlay of rare and highly revered in Egypt, red jasper, height of 3.9 cm, in the form of human, most likely, - the king's face. The level of execution and the rarity of the material led to estimate the house "Sotheby's, which, despite all the arguments that seem unnaturally high - $ 80-120 thousand monuments dating from the time XIX or XXII dynasty has many similarities, mostly - made of glass and has twice passed through hands of experts "Sotheby's in 1981 and 1989. On the origin of the monument "Sotheby's" tersely wrote: "European private collection.

The same absolutely nedekvatny estimate given in the case of a statue of a kneeling priest, made of copper alloy masters of contemporary XXVI dynasty. Height statues - just 14 cm, it is neither rare nor some distinctive level of artistic performance. The only interesting aspect of the monument - the hands of the priest, who, unlike the usual posture for Egyptian adoration, rotated his fingers to his face. Hans Wolfgang Muller, who studied the monument, has suggested that the statue, the former was originally part of a large sculptural group, where the priest was kneeling before the god Thoth ibises, depicts a blinded the priest, praying Toth about healing through the ancient, well-known since the time of the pyramids spells, composed of ten sayings, which he counts on his fingers (Hans-Wolfgang Müller, Eine ungewöhnliche Metallfigur eines blinden ägyptischen Priesters //Sitzungsberichte. Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philo.-hist. Klasse., 1989, Heft 5, pp. 5-33, figs . 1, 2, 4-11).

The lower part of the limestone statue of a woman (height 42 cm) is very good, despite the loss of the upper half of the monument. The inscription, perfectly preserved in the reference column indicates that this image Tager priestesses of the temple in the ancient city Saheb (modern Zat al-Kom), located on the south-west of the Delta. The statue, depicting a contemporary of the first Ptolemies, repeatedly published; estimate - $ 25-35 thousand

Judging from the data from the island of Elephantine is the last monument of interest in these auctions - the statue of the deified queen Arsine II of Dynasty Potlemeev. The monument is relatively small (32 x 32 cm), but quite good and, alas, is a vivid example of the sake of a portrait of Queen was disfigured temple wall. Origin of relief - a collection of Oscar Carbon of a sudden for the ancient Egyptian monuments of Buenos Aires. Estimate "a Sotheby's" is not particularly large - $ 20-30 thousand

All photos - © sothebys.com

An interesting program "Collection" channel "Mansion" on the Egyptian things in the Gallery Cyril Danelia - as a continuation razmysheny, but on the native soil ...