Lot 6
6
AN EGYPTIAN OBSIDIAN PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE PHARAOH AHMOSE OR AMENHOTEP I
AN EGYPTIAN OBSIDIAN PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE PHARAOH AHMOSE OR AMENHOTEP I
AN EGYPTIAN OBSIDIAN PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE PHARAOH AHMOSE OR AMENHOTEP I
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AN EGYPTIAN OBSIDIAN PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE PHARAOH AHMOSE OR AMENHOTEP I
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PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK CITY PRIVATE COLLECTION
AN EGYPTIAN OBSIDIAN PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE PHARAOH AHMOSE OR AMENHOTEP I

NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1550-1504 B.C.

Details
AN EGYPTIAN OBSIDIAN PORTRAIT HEAD OF THE PHARAOH AHMOSE OR AMENHOTEP I
NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1550-1504 B.C.
1 ¾ in. (4.5 cm.) high
Provenance
Hans Wolfgang Müller (1907-1991), Germany.
The Resandro Collection, Munich, acquired from the above, 1974.
The Resandro Collection, Christie's, London, 6 December 2016, lot 111.
The Resandro Collection; Antiquities, Christie's, London, 6 December 2017, lot 99.
Literature
S. Schoske and D. Wildung, Entdeckungen: Ägyptische Kunst in Süddeutschland, Munich, 1985, p. 50, no. 36.
S. Schoske and D. Wildung, Gott und Götter im Alten Ägypten, Mainz am Rhein, 1993, p. 194, no. 124.
P. Lacovara, et al., “A Composite-Statue Element in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” Revue d'Égyptologie 47, 1996, p. 174, n. 3.
J. Malek, et al., Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts, Statues, Reliefs and Paintings, vol. 8, part 1, Oxford, 1999, p. 117, no. 800-732-850.
A.-C. Thiem, ed., Am Hofe des Pharao: Von Amenophis I. bis Tutanchamun, Bussolengo, 2002, p. 16, fig. 14.
I. Grimm-Stadelmann, ed., Aesthetic Glimpses: Masterpieces of Ancient Egyptian Art, The Resandro Collection, Munich, 2012, p. 34, no. R-108.
Exhibited
Munich, Galerie der Bayerischen Landesbank, Entdeckungen: Ägyptische Kunst in Süddeutschland, 30 August-6 October 1985.
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.
Palma, Palacio del Arte, Am Hofe des Pharao: von Amenophis I. bis Tutanchamun, 4 May-27 October 2002.

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Hannah Fox Solomon
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Lot Essay

Formerly in the collection of the prominent German Egyptologist Hans Wolfgang Müller (1907-1991), this pharaonic portrait from the early 18th Dynasty belongs to a very small number of known Egyptian sculptures carved in obsidian. This volcanic glass naturally occurs in Anatolia, Armenia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Ethiopia. Although obsidian was imported to Egypt in small quantities as early as the Predynastic era, the rarity of this exotic luxury material is reflected in the fact that most known portraits made of obsidian depict royalty. The most famous example is the small Middle Kingdom head of Senwosret III in the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, acknowledged as one of the masterpieces of Egyptian art (see L.M. de Araújo, Egyptian Art: Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, no. 4).
Although the present example is a third smaller in scale, the youthful features on this finely-carved head -- with wide open eyes, long cosmetic lines and brows, a square face, and distinctive flaps of the double crown – reflect the portraiture of the first kings of the 18th Dynasty, either Ahmose or his son and successor Amenhotep I.

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