AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE HERYSHEF

LATE PERIOD, 26TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 664-525 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE HERYSHEF
LATE PERIOD, 26TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 664-525 B.C.
The ram-headed god striding forward with his left leg advanced, his right arm at his side, his left arm bent at the elbow and held out in front, both hands once holding now-missing attributes, wearing a collar, a short belted kilt and a striated tripartite wig, his head with projecting ears and tapering under-slung horns, wearing a plumed atef-crown, fronted by a uraeus, the plumes with a uraeus either side and supported by ram's horns

6 ¾ in. (17.2 cm.) high

Provenance

H. Phelps Clawson (1892-1975) collection, New York.
with Ralph M. Chait, New York, 1950.
Greta S. Heckett collection, Pittsburgh.
Ancient Bronzes from the Estate of Greta S. Heckett; Sotheby's, New York, 21 May 1977, lot 324.
with Mele Gallery, Connecticut.
Resandro collection, acquired from the above in November 1991.

Exhibited

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Museum of Art, Ancient Bronzes: a Selection from the Heckett Collection, Heckmeres Highlands, Valencia, Pennsylvania, 5 November 1964-10 January 1965.
Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung; Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Munich, Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst Munchen; Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Gott und Götter im Alten Ägypten, 1992-1993.

Brought to you by

Chanel Clarke

cclarke@christies.com +44 (0)20 7752 3331

Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
Carnegie Institute, 1964, no. 50.
Schoske & Wildung, 1993, p. 31, no. 16.
Grimm-Stadelmann, 2012, p. 158, no. R-467.

There are several ram-headed gods in the Egyptian pantheon, including Banebdjedet, Heryshef, Kherty, Khnum and Amun-Re. According to R.H. Wilkinson (Wilkinson, 2003, pp. 192-195) 'Due to the similarity of the onomatopoeic name of the ram ba and the ba spirit, a number of ram gods were worshipped as the ba of the great gods such as Re or Osiris.'

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