Lot 52
52
AN EGYPTIAN STEATITE PORTRAIT HEAD OF A PHARAOH
PROPERTY FROM THE HARER FAMILY TRUST COLLECTION
AN EGYPTIAN STEATITE PORTRAIT HEAD OF A PHARAOH

NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, 1391-1323 B.C.

Details
AN EGYPTIAN STEATITE PORTRAIT HEAD OF A PHARAOH
NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, 1391-1323 B.C.
Probably depicting Tutankhamen, likely originally from a standing figure, wearing the Khepresh or Blue Crown, adorned with disk-shaped ornament throughout, fronted by a uraeus above the brow band, its body coiled, the tail extending up over the top, his distinctive round face with almond-shaped eyes, the thick upper lids tapering and extending at the outer ends, with modeled brows, a small round nose and full lips, his earlobes indented, indicating piercing, the neck with twin flesh folds, the back pillar seemingly once inscribed
1¼ in. (3.1 cm.) high
Provenance
with Charles D. Kelekian, New York.
Antiquities, Sotheby's, New York, 11 December 1980, lot 247.
Literature
G.D. Scott, III, Temple, Tomb and Dwelling: Egyptian Antiquities from the Harer Family Trust Collection, San Bernardino, 1992, no. 95.
G.D. Scott, III, Dynasties: The Egyptian Royal Image in the New Kingdom, San Antonio, 1995, no. 24.
D. C. Forbes, "Harer Collection of Egyptian Antiquities," in KMT, vol. 8, 1997, p. 21.
Exhibited
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986-1991.
San Bernardino, University Art Gallery, 1992; Arizona State University Museum, 1993; and San Antonio Museum of Art, 1993-1996; Temple, Tomb and Dwelling: Egyptian Antiquities from the Harer Family Trust Collection.
San Bernardino, Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art, 1997-2010.

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Lot Essay

While the round face with large eyes and thick upper lids is characteristic to portraits of both Amenhotep III (1391-1353 B.C.) and Tutankhamen (1333-1323 B.C.), the pierced ears and the flesh folds on the neck suggest that Tutankhamen is intended. Amenhotep III was the first king to favor the Khepresh crown for portraiture, and its use continued during the reigns of Akhenaten and Tutankhamen. For an indurated limestone portrait of Tutankhamen wearing the Khepresh crown see no. 241 in R.E. Freed, et al., Pharaohs of the Sun, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, Tutankhamen.

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