PROPERTY FROM THE H. FRANCOIS-MARSAL COLLECTIONMy grandmother, Marcelle Desurmont, née Prouvost (1892-1972), came from a successful textile industrialist family from the North of France. She formed her collection in the 1940s. She was living in a milieu of artists, being a member of the Société des Amis de Marcel Proust and regularly corresponding with the French author Colette. Her Egyptian vases were in harmony with her Parisian flat: their elongated shapes matched the pure lines of the 1930s style decor designed by Pierre Barbe (1900-2004).After inheriting her collection, I was able to fulfil my passion and make new acquisitions, including from M. Despras’ gallery. I was fascinated to learn about the sacred functions of these stone vases, my imagination being fuelled by my reading of The Mysteries of the Great Pyramid... (Hubert François-Marsal, August 2015)

AN EGYPTIAN PORPHYRITIC DIORITE JAR

PREDYNASTIC PERIOD-EARLY DYNASTIC, NAQADA III-2ND DYNASTY, CIRCA 3200-2686B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN PORPHYRITIC DIORITE JAR
PREDYNASTIC PERIOD-EARLY DYNASTIC, NAQADA III-2ND DYNASTY, CIRCA 3200-2686B.C.
The piriform body with thick rounded rim, on a rounded base, with a hieroglyphic inscription reading 'Nefer-ib-Re'
5 7/8 in. (15 cm.) high

Provenance

with Jean-Loup Despras, Paris.
M. H. François-Marsal collection, Nantes, acquired from the above in 1983.

Brought to you by

Georgiana Aitken

gaitken@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3002

Lot Essay

Predynastic and early dynastic vessels have sometimes been reused in later periods. For an example of a palette inscribed for Amenhotep III, cf. M. Hartwig, `Between Predynastic palettes and Dynastic relief: The case of Cairo JE 46148 & BMA 66.175', in E.-M. Engel, V. Müller, U. Hartung (eds), Zeichen aus dem Sand. Streiflichter aus Ägyptens Geschichte zu Ehren von Günter Dreyer, Menes 5, Wiesbaden, 2008, pp. 195-209.

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