OLD KINGDOM, 5TH-6TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 2450-2181 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE RELIEF FRAGMENT FOR SIENMESEH
OLD KINGDOM, 5TH-6TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 2450-2181 B.C.
12 ½ in. (31.8 cm.) high; 11 ¼ in. (28.4 cm.) wide

Provenance

Prof. Dr. Roland Bay (1909-1992), Orselina, acquired in the 1950s; thence by descent to the current owner.

Literature

S. Hermann, Le don du Nil: Art égyptien dans les collections suisses, Basel, 1978, pp. 38-39, no. 125.

Exhibited

Le don du Nil, Art égyptien dans les collections suisses, Genève, Basel, Bern, Zürich, Luzern, 1978.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The deceased walks to the right, holding a staff out in front, wearing a smooth wig, small chin beard and a broad collar. Hieroglyphic inscriptions above read "provided by Khnum who is the head of the house the protection and the life and Priest of Hathor, Khnum who is at the forefront of the House of Protection and the House of Life, Sienmeseh. " The name 'Sienmeseh', which translates literally as 'Man of the Crocodile', is very unusual and does not appear to have been previously recorded by H. Ranke in Die Ägyptischen Personennamen. The 5th Dynasty tomb of a royal physician with similar rare titles naming “Khnum who is at the forefront of the House of Protection and the House of Life” was recently discovered by Miroslav Barta at Abusir, and it is possible that this fragment might relate to the Old Kingdom cemetery at that site.

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