AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE SCULPTOR'S MODEL OF THE FOREPART OF A LION

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus bu… Read more

THE PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR Provenance: the majority of this collection (lots 108-150) was formed in the late 19th and early 20th Century.

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE SCULPTOR'S MODEL OF THE FOREPART OF A LION

DYNASTY XXX/EARLY PTOLEMAIC, CIRCA 4TH-2ND CENTURY B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE SCULPTOR'S MODEL OF THE FOREPART OF A LION
DYNASTY XXX/EARLY PTOLEMAIC, CIRCA 4TH-2ND CENTURY B.C.
With exquisitely detailed face, mane, ears, and strongly naturalistic detail of the front paws and rib-cage, holding a pair of knives between his paws, with traces of incised grid marks along lower edge
6½ x 37/8 in. (16.7 x 9.8 cm.)

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

This is probably a detail of one of the addorsed Lions of the Horizon, which guarded the Eastern and Western Limits and symbolized Yesterday and Tomorrow. Since the sun's underworld journey brought it from the jaws of the lion of the West to the jaws of the lion of the East, whence he was reborn in the morning, the lions were of fundamental importance in the rejuvenation of the sun. According to the Heliopolitan creation legend the two first gods to appear from the solar demiurge Atum were in the form of a pair of lion cubs - Shu and Tefnut.

More from ANTIQUITIES

View All