19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF FRENCH 'EYGPTOMANIA' BRONZE CANOPIC JARS
19TH CENTURY
Each with lid in the form of the human-headed god Imsety, the body cast with hieroglyphs, figures, cobras and a scarab beetle, with later removable liners, with rope-twist base on stepped plinth
13¼ in. (33.5 cm.) high (2)

Provenance

Acquired from Kugel, Paris.

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.

Lot Essay

The early 19th Century connoisseur's romantic taste for vase-decked apartments in Roman 'columbarium' manner, combined with an appreciation for Egyptian antiquities led by Baron Vivant Denon (d. 1825), introduced such bronze canopic urns as 'Furniture' garnitures, which were further appreciated in England as being 'à la Français' (see T. Hope, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807).

In Ancient Eygpt the dead were buried with the heart intact but with the viscera encased in canopic jars, with each jar protected by one of the four sons of Haros (the son Osiris and Isis) - the human-headed god Imsety protected the lungs.

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