Inscription reads: “IL-YAFA WAGAH”

With standing figure and inscription

This marble nude of a woman is a truly delicate expression of the female body. Her figure captures the exceptional skill Roman sculptors had sought so hard to accomplish in the 1st – 2nd centuries. Her body is formed into the stylistic Roman ‘S’ shape, purposely exaggerating her voluptuous figure. She has broad hips, full thighs, a soft abdomen and shapely breasts suggesting the ladies youthful femininity and sensual charm. Though the arms, head and the lower legs have been lost, the highly charged naturalism of the body creates the impression of a real living woman.

This is an exceptionally rare example of a Roman capital herm. The artist here incers profuse decoration, which would have served no structural function, but gives some variety to the extenuated shaft. This piece would have formed the crowning member of a column or a pilaster and is called a herm due to the bust on both sides surmounted around the square stone pillar.

The man represented is that of the deity Mercury or also know as Hermes in ancient Greek mythology. Mercury, in Roman mythology was a messenger of the gods, like his analogous Greek deity Hermes. The artist here has captured his powerful subject with a combination of fine details and subtle modeling, each used to impart texture or volume. Mercury is wearing his usual iconographic mark of the winged cap. His hair is in a mass of short curling locks, his brow heavy and furrowed. His large convex eyes are recessed and their lids are heavy and drilled inner canthi.

The pure masculine strength of this figure is not only a tribute to the deity it represents, but also to the supreme functionality it is meant to fulfil.

This very beautiful and extremely meaningful slab comes from a tomb of an official, probably of the courtyard/temple sort, known from the cemetery lying to the south of the Unas Causeway at Saqqara.

The owner is identified as a man named Ipi. In raised relief the dignitary is represented on the left. He is seated and holds in the left hand a fan. He is dressed in a finely folded court garb and wearing an elaborate court wig. Ipy is further identified as being a scribe, but his carrying a fan relates to one of his titles given in the inscription above: “Fan bearer on the King’s Right Hand”, implying a close connection to the pharaoh. On the right Ipi is shown with a tray of offerings including bread ad ducks; and below another table of offerings including a bouquet of flowers. He is also depicted in a court dress on the opposite side, but now shaven headed.

The inscription above this gives him the name of a Priest of Ptah ie. The creator god of Memphis, making perfect sense of the feasible provenance of this piece – Memphis was the ancient capital of Egypt and Saqqara its necropolis. In the field, seven columns of inscription in hieroglyphic characters translate into:
“The Prince and Count, first companion between other companions, grand in his function, grand at the palace, notable of the head of all subjects, the fan to the right of the king, is the scribe of the king, the scribe of the king is loved by him… Ipy” .

This is an ancient Egyptian gesso-painted wooden coffin fragment from the Middle Kingdom. This painting of the man and the hieroglyphics next to him are a wonderful example of dominant character and style of ancient Egyptian art: the homeometric regularity, intense observation, precise representation of actual nature, and strict conformity to a set of rules regarding representation of three dimensional forms.

On the upper portion of the fragment, the top figure Qebehsenuef is holding was-sceptre, with four painted columns of hieroglyphs to his right and with two outer yellow coloured inscribed borders, each bearing part of his name. The lower portion of the fragment, is that of the bottom part of Qebehsenuef holding the was-sceptre, with identical panels as above. The reverse of this panel is inscribed with columns of inscription from The Coffin Texts, each spell written in red, the rest in black, including a spell for repelling a female snake.

Provenance: Christies 2003. The other half of this piece is in the Princeton Museum

This is an especially charming marble head of a woman , she is delicate in every possible way. Her finely-modelled features are brought to life with the slight tilt and downward angle of her head. Although, presumably expressionless, her face seems to tell us a story of sorrow, longing, or perhaps a moment of remeniscience. Her hair is parted in the center and tied back, her forehead is broad and her brow is low. She has convex lidded eyes, small fleshy lips and a softly rounded chin.

The work is a wonderful combination of fine details and subtle modeling used to impart a touching sensitivity and thoughtfulness. What a beautiful example of a truly moving piece of art.

This fragment is an exceptionally rare and extremely important piece from the east Step of a Pyramid tomb of Bakenrenef at Saqqara. Bakenrenef held an important position as the Vizier of Pharaoh Psamtik I 664-610 B.C, therefore had an elaborate tomb dedicated to his expectant passing to the afterlife. Bakenrenef’s tomb was discovered in 1827 by a man called Defterdar Bey and was recorded by the German Egyptologist Karl Richard.

The quality of the relief’s were so impressive they were cut from the walls and given to a number of major collections. Such fragments like this one can be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is inscribed in sunken relief and brightly painted, attesting to the period it comes from in which artisans were deliberately copying earlier styles of hieroglyphics and sculpture.

The inscription of this piece reads downwards from right to left, in four vertical columns, their words being cut off at the top and bottom therefore making it difficult for a complete translation. The outer column with the seated man determinative, reads ‘…I floursh…’; the column second to the right reads ‘..in your nostrils I am…’; third column from the right ‘…sniff the breezes in…’; and the fourth column from right reads, ‘…water given to him as…’. . The text comes from spells from the Book of the Dead for the well being of the deceased in the Afterworld of Kherneter where those who have successfully passed through the Hall of Judgement.

It is the sharp colours and elegant proportions that help make this a simply stunning example of Egyptian Art.