• Antiquities auction at Christies

    Sale 12257

    Antiquities

    New York

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    25 October 2016

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    • AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE SCULPTOR
    Lot 10 | PROPERTY FROM THE TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART, SOLD TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITIONS FUND Read more

    AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE SCULPTOR'S MODEL OF PTOLEMY II

    PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, REIGN 285-246 B.C.

    Price realised

    USD 16,250

    Estimate

    USD 10,000 - USD 15,000

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    AN EGYPTIAN LIMESTONE SCULPTOR'S MODEL OF PTOLEMY II
    PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, REIGN 285-246 B.C.
    3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm.) high

    Provenance

    Edward Drummond Libbey (1854-1925), Toledo, gifted to The Toledo Museum of Art, 1906 (Accession no. 1906.224).

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    Literature and exhibited

    Literature

    The Toledo Museum of Art, Catalogue of a Collection of Egyptian Antiquities, Brought Together and Presented to The Toledo Museum of Art by Mr. Edward Drummond Libbey, Toledo, 1906, p. 36, no. 224.


    Lot Essay

    Ptolemy II Philadelphos came to the throne of Egypt as co-ruler in 285 B.C. at the age of 25. To celebrate his accession he staged an elaborate pageant, which included music, images of Egyptian and Greek gods, and a long train of wild beasts and birds unknown to Egypt, including elephants harnessed to chariots. He enriched the city of Alexandria with a lavish building program in an effort to make the new city a cultural rival to Athens, which included the completion of the famed library, the greatest of the Hellenistic world. He was first married to Arsinoe I, daughter of Lysimachus of Thrace, who bore him three children, but she was later accused of treason and banished to Coptos. Her accuser was Ptolemy's sister Arsinoe II, who later married her brother. Egypt prospered and expanded during his thirty-eight year reign. He died in 246 B.C., aged about 60, and was succeeded by his son, Ptolemy III Euergetes (see M. Davis and C.M. Kraay, The Hellenistic Kingdoms, Portrait Coins and History, pp. 151-158).

    Other information

    Pre-Lot Text

    PROPERTY FROM THE TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART, SOLD TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITIONS FUND

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