LATE PTOLEMAIC TO EARLY ROMAN PERIOD, CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN POLYCHROME SANDSTONE BA BIRD
Late Ptolemaic to Early Roman Period,
Circa 1st Century B.C.-1st Century A.D.
Depicted standing on an integral rectangular plinth, with its tail extending over the edge, the human-headed bird wearing a tripartite wig tapering to a point between the wings at the back, the lappets falling along the front of the shoulders, the triangular face with large angled eyes depicted in black, and fleshy lips, the large legs and feet red with black for the talons, the body and tail yellow-beige, the gray wings crossing as they overlap the tail feathers
7½ in. (19.1 cm.) high

Provenance

with John Cummings, Ltd., Grantham, Lincolnshire, England, 1991.

Lot Essay

The Ba Bird is the figural representation of the character of a deceased person, often thought of as the soul. The style and scale of this representation finds its closest parallels in both wood and stone from the Late Ptolemaic and Early Roman Periods. See, for example, nos. 148 a and b in D'Auria, et al., Mummies and Magic, The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt.

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