AN EGYPTIAN WOOD FIGURE OF A RECUMBENT LION

PERSIAN PERIOD, DYNASTY XXVII, CIRCA 525-404 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN WOOD FIGURE OF A RECUMBENT LION
PERSIAN PERIOD, DYNASTY XXVII, CIRCA 525-404 B.C.
Perhaps a box lid, the finely carved recumbent feline with tail curled around right haunch, head turned sharply to the right, pointed ears held flat against neck, with short striated mane, two folds of skin beneath each eye, with open snarling mouth, forelegs outstretched with finely detailed paws and dewclaws, on integral rectangular base, the underside carved with a stepped edge
4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm.) long

Provenance

M. T. Schiff collection; Hôtel Drouot, sale no. 6, 13-17 March 1905, lot 11.
Henry Oppenheimer F.S.A. collection, Christie's London, 22-23 July 1936, lot 23 (*52.10s to Hindamian).
E. L. Paget collection, Sotheby's London, 17-18 October 1949, lot 295.
Ink inscribed labels for Oppenheimer and Paget on underside of base, with handwritten notes relating to the Schiff sale.

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Lot Essay

The Achaemenid influences on Egyptian art in the late 6th-5th Century B.C. are clearly visible in the above object. The open snarling mouth rather than the typically closed mouth of Egyptian lions, the short mane and the 'bags' under the eyes are all attributes of a Persian feline. For a similar snarling lion on wood chair leg cf. Christie's London, 3 July 1996, lot 245.

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