AN EGYPTIAN BLUE CROWN INLAY AND A GRAPE CLUSTER AMULET
AN EGYPTIAN BLUE CROWN INLAY AND A GRAPE CLUSTER AMULET
AN EGYPTIAN BLUE CROWN INLAY AND A GRAPE CLUSTER AMULET
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AN EGYPTIAN BLUE CROWN INLAY AND A GRAPE CLUSTER AMULET
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PROPERTY FROM A PRINCELY COLLECTION
AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE HEAD OF A QUEEN OR PRINCESS

NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, AMARNA PERIOD, CIRCA 1352-1336 B.C.

Details
AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE HEAD OF A QUEEN OR PRINCESS
NEW KINGDOM, 18TH DYNASTY, AMARNA PERIOD, CIRCA 1352-1336 B.C.
3 ¾ in. (9.5 cm.) high
Provenance
with Heinz Herzer, Munich, 1962.
South German private collection.
Swiss private collection, acquired from the above in 1988.
Literature
G. Roeder, Ägyptische Kunst aus der Zeit des Königs Echnaton, Hamburg, 1965, pp. 20-21, no. 22, pl. 13-14.
S. Schoske and D. Wildung, Entdeckungen, Ägyptische Kunst in Süddeutschland, Munich, 1985, p. 61, no. 45.
M. Page-Gasser and A. Wiese, Ägypten. Augenblicke der Ewigkeit, Mainz, 1997, p. 150-151, no. 92.
A. Wiese, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, Die Agyptische Abteilung, Mainz am Rhein, 2001, p. 121, no. 80.
Exhibited
Ägyptische Kunst aus der Zeit des Königs Echnaton, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, 14 May-27 June 1965.
Ägypten: Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, 1997; and Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Geneva, 1997-1998.
On loan to the Antikenmuseum, Basel, 1997-2005.
Sale room notice
Please note, this lot has also been published in: M. Page-Gasser and A. Wiese, Ägypten. Augenblicke der Ewigkeit, Mainz, 1997, p. 150-151, no. 92

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi
Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

Lot Essay

This diminutive head in late Amarna style has close stylistic associations with products in gypsum plaster and stone from the famous sculptor’s workshop of Thutmose at Amarna. The full lips, softly-modelled nose, rounded chin, and almond-shaped eyes closely resemble a series of female portrait heads in plaster, such as the portrait of a youthful woman, possibly identified as one of Akhenaten's consorts or a princess, now at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, see R. Freed (et al.), Pharaohs of the Sun, Boston 1999, p. 247, no. 140; or the portrait at the British Museum, identified by the wing-shaped mouth and slanted eyes as King Tutankhamun or Queen Ankhesenamun, see E. Russmann (ed.), Eternal Egypt, London, 2001, pp. 141-142, no. 58. Recent studies by Dorothea Arnold and Dimitry Laboury have outlined how such plaster studies may well be durable casts of ephemeral portraits fashioned in malleable clay, part of an artistic process leading to the final sculpting of an idealized portrait in limestone or hard stones like quartzite. This piece may well represent a study at smaller scale based on these plaster casts, perhaps a step in the process toward the completion of a final work representing Nefertiti, Kiya, or one of the daughters of Akhenaten. According to A. Wiese, this head is most likely to depict Queen Nefertiti, see A. Wiese, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, Die Agyptische Abteilung, Mainz am Rhein, 2001, p. 121, no. 80. The head was also previously identified as Meritaten, the eldest daughter of Akhenaten and Queen Nefertiti by G. Roeder in Ägyptische Kunst aus der Zeit des Königs Echnaton, p. 20.

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