Live Auction 22666Antiquities
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE FALCON
Lot 21PROPERTY FROM A SWISS PRIVATE COLLECTION

AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE FALCON

LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.

Closed3 July 2024

Price Realised

GBP 630,000

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AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE FALCON
LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 664-30 B.C.
12 ¼ in. (31.1 cm.) high

with Joseph Khawam & Co., Cairo.
Private collection, Paris, acquired from the above in 1954; thence by descent.
Property from a private European collection, Antiquities; Christie's, New York, 11 December 2014, lot 34.
with Galerie Cybele, Paris, March 2015.

Specialist note

Hollow-cast, the bird stands with its talons spread and the closed wings crossing over the long tail. Details of the feathers are incised and the head is naturalistically modeled with ridged brows, convex eyes framed by defined lids and pointed canthi. The characteristic facial markings are recessed, and the beak is sharply hooked. There is an opening on the underside for the insertion of a now-missing mummy or votive, which presumably was once sealed in plaster. For a related example see fig. 1 in P. Jett, S. Sturman and T.D. Weisser, 'A Study of the Egyptian Bronze Falcon Figures in The Walters Art Gallery', Studies in Conservation, vol. 30, no. 3, 1985.