LATE PERIOD/PTOLEMAIC, CIRCA MID-4TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

FOUR EGYPTIAN TURQUOISE GLAZED COMPOSITION SHABTIS FOR HOR-DJE-HER
LATE PERIOD/PTOLEMAIC, CIRCA MID-4TH CENTURY B.C.
Each holding hoe, mattock and seed bag over left shoulder, with ten lines of hieroglyphs from Chapter VI of the Book of the Dead, 6¾ in. (17 cm.) high max.; and another 26 smaller shabtis for the same person, each with single column of hieroglyphs, 4¼ in. (11 cm.) high max.; a green stone heart scarab, 1 7/8 in. (4.8 cm.) long; a sheet gold amulet of a floral collar; another of a Horus falcon, 5/8 in. (1.5 cm.) high max.; a lapis lazuli amulet of the standing goddess Neith, 1 in. (2.5 cm.) high; a cornelian djed-pillar, ¾ in. (2 cm.) high; a group of pottery lamps and vessels including a red-ware jar with laurel wreath in applied white on the shoulder, 6 in. (15.2 cm.) high; two lamps with lugs on the side of the body; another with dotted decoration; a lamp tondo with Chi-Rho monogram, 4¼ in. (11 cm.) long max., all 3rd-7th Century A.D.; a 'cocked-hat' lamp, circa 6th Century B.C.; a bucchero ware dish with impressed palmette decoration on the interior, 3½ in. (9 cm.) diam.; another flat dish, similar, 7 in. (18 cm.) diam., circa 4th Century B.C.; a copy of J. Faivre's Canopus, Menouthis, Aboukir, Alexandria, 1918; and a file containing numerous original photographs, notes, plans, drawings and 1943 newspaper articles from The Evening Standard and The Egyptian Gazette(a lot)

Provenance

Found by Flight Lieutenant W. Palmer whilst helping on excavations at the British Royal Air Force unit at Aboukir, 1942-1943; and thence by descent to the present owner.

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. Please note that descriptions of lots in this catalogue do not include references to condition. Condition reports are available on request. Please contact the Antiquities department administrator.

Lot Essay

In the summer of 1940 a R.A.F unit was stationed at Aboukir, about 12 miles east of Alexandria. Due to persistant flooding, the Unit Commander decided to have the area around the offices drained. In November 1942 work commenced, but only a foot below the surface the pickaxes hit a rock shelf which then led to a series of rooms and passages. The site of the tomb was by the ancient city of Canopus, a leading city and port at the mouth of the main stream of the Nile during the later Dynasties and Graeco-Roman Periods. In typed notes of the finds it is recorded, "Details of articles found in Loculus 'G': 311 Ushabties, 27 of which were 15 to 17 cms long and 285 were about 10 cms ... inscribed with the usual 6th Chapter of the Book of the Dead and were of Her Zeb Her". The most important of the finds were deposited in the Graeco-Roman museum, Alexandria.

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