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

Details

AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE HATHORIC PILLAR
LATE PERIOD-PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 664-30 B.C.
Probably from a four-faced column capital, in the form of the head of the cow-eared goddess Hathor, with a broad triangular face
16 ½ in. (41.9 cm.) high

Provenance

with Maurice Nahman Antiquaire via R. H. Blanchard, Cairo, from whom acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art in 1925 (inv. no. 1925.150).
Sold by the museum at Sotheby's New York, 25 June 1992, lot 223, when acquired by the present owner.

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Lot Essay

Four-faced Hathor columns became popular from the Middle Kingdom onwards. Often, each face was in the form of a votive sistrum with a frontal head surmounted by a headdress supporting a naos, with a central uraeus and flanked by volutes. The four faces symbolized Hathor's omnipotence, and demonstrated how she watched over all four corners of the earth.

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