REIGN OF AMENHOTEP III, 1391-1353 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE BUST OF THE PRINCESS HENUT-TANEB
REIGN OF AMENHOTEP III, 1391-1353 B.C.
Wearing the vulture headdress over a bi-partite wig with two pigtails down her back, traces of a crown of uraei (upper insignia now missing), she carries a flail in her left hand which falls over her left arm, the composite back pillar in the form of a double lotus bouquet, traces of blue pigment, mounted
5½ in. (14 cm.) high

Provenance

Formerly in the collection of Dominique Mallet, acquired before 1930. Mallet was an epigraphist, Hellenist and Egyptologist, working particularly on the Ptolemaic period; she was the author of various works including: Le Culte de Neit à Sais, 1888, and Les premiers établissements des Grecs en Egypt, 1893.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis. Please note that the lots of Iranian origin are subject to U.S. trade restrictions which currently prohibit the import into the United States. Similar restrictions may apply in other countries. This lot will be removed to an off-site warehouse at the close of business on the day of sale - 2 weeks free storage

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Lot Essay

For Princess Henut-taneb, cf. D. Arnold, The Royal Women of Amarna, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996, p. 9, fig. 4, "This second daughter of Amenhotep III and Tiye bore a name that was actually a title of Egyptian queens; Henut-taneb means 'Mistress of All Lands'. The name was particularly appropriate because she seems to have been elevated to a position equivalent to that of her mother and older sister. Although she is not identified with the title Royal Wife, the colossal statue group of Amenhotep III and Tiye from Medinet Habu, in the central hall of Cairo Museum, portrays her at the side of her parents, in a smaller scale, wearing the vulture cap of a queen, and she is described as 'the companion of Horus, who is in his heart'. This is the only time a King's daughter was given this queenly title. Since on other monuments her name is often enclosed within a cartouche - a prerogative of royal wives - we may have to include her among the many wives of her father."
Also, cf. detail of Princess Henut-taneb in Cairo Museum (JE33906) in A. Kozloff and B. M. Bryan, Egypt's Dazzling Sun, Cleveland, 1992, p. 207, fig. 24a,b.

A copy of the certificate of pigment analysis from the Centre d'Innovation et de Recherche pour l'Analyse et le Marquage, Cessac, France, accompanies this lot.

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