LATE PERIOD, 664-343 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE IMHOTEP
LATE PERIOD, 664-343 B.C.
Solid cast, depicted seated with his feet apart on a trapezoidal integral plinth, wearing a long pleated kilt, a cap-crown and an incised broad collar, his large eyes once inlaid, preserving traces of gold or electrum for the sclerae, a papyrus scroll unrolled on his lap, with a hieroglyphic inscription reading: "Imhotep, [Son of] Ptah, Justified”
6 in. (15.2 cm.) high

Provenance

Gifted to Aslan Leon Cattaui (1890–1987) by the Automobile Club of Egypt in 1954; thence by descent, Switzerland, 1956.

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Lot Essay

Imhotep was a high official during the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. A true Renaissance man of his time, literature tells us that Imhotep was a scholar, a priest to the god Ptah, and vizier (or overseer) to King Djoser, who commissioned the Step Pyramid Complex at Saqqara. From the Late Period into the Greco-Roman era, Imhotep is often depicted enthroned and awarded the full attributes of divinity (see R.H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, pp. 111-113).

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