LATE DYNASTY XXX-EARLY PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 360-300 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE SCULPTOR'S MODEL
LATE DYNASTY XXX-EARLY PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 360-300 B.C.
Finely sculpted in raised relief with the bust of a king, perhaps Nectanebo II, in profile to the right, wearing a smooth Blue Crown, its lower edge with a double border extending into streamers in back, fronted by a uraeus, its hood fully displayed before two loops, one above the other, the tail running up, the ear naturalistically modelled, the face with a thin modelled brow above a slanted eye, the nose rounded at the tip, the lips pursed into a slight smile, his garment with a beaded collar
2 15/16 in. (7.4 cm.) long

Provenance

Acquired by the current owner in 1963.

Literature

R.A. Lunsingh Scheurleer, ed., Egypte, Eender en Anders, Amsterdam, 1984, p. 64, no. 103.

Exhibited

Amsterdam, Allard Pierson Museum, Egypte, Eender en Anders, 1984.

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Lot Essay

Similar royal depictions on so-called "sculptor's models" have been tentatively identified as Nectanebo II on the basis of comparison to reliefs on an inscribed red granite naos in Cairo and London (see pl. LXXXVII in Mysliwiec, Royal Portraiture of the Dynasties XXI-XXX). All share the same distinctive facial features and the two-looped uraeus fronting the Blue Crown. For related examples see nos. 28 and 29 in Bothmer, et al., Antiquities from the Collection of Christos G. Bastis, and no. 54 in Tomoum, The Sculptor's Models of the Late and Ptolemaic Periods.

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