Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Ancient Egyptian Sculpture - Sotheby's


$ 60k to $ 90k		On December 8, 2015 Sotheby's presented a sale almost exclusively dedicated to ancient Egyptian sculpture and works of art, the first auction of its kind in recent memory.

Highlights included a fine small-scale basalt bust of King Tuthmosis III, an imposing over-lifesize fragmentary red granite head of King Amenhotep III from the last ten years of his reign, and a monumental granite enthroned figure of the goddess Sekhmet, once the property of John Lennon
Black Basalt Head Of Tuthmosis III, 18th Dynasty, 1479-1426 B.C. $200k to $ 300k

Wood mask with inlaid eyes, 25th/26th Dynasty. $ 300k to $ 500k
Limestone mask, 30th Dynasty/early Ptolemaic Period. $200k to $ 300k
Granite enthroned figure of the goddess Sekhmet. $ 3m to $ 5m
Statuette of the Lady Iset , priestess of the god Sobek, dating to the early 19th Dynasty. $600k to $ 900k

A record for an ancient Egyptian work of art was set at Christie’s in 2012 when a 29 inch sculpture of the goddess, Isis, dating from the Late Period Dynasty, c 664 - 525 BC, sold for £3.7 million.
A 30-inch statue representing the god Sekhemka broke the world record for highest auction price of an Egyptian artwork in 2014. The statue was estimated to sell for $7 to $11 million, but sold for $27 million. The Sekhemka statue is a tomb model of a high official, wearing a short kilt and tight-fitting wig, surrounded by his wife, son and seven offering-bearers. He holds a papyrus on his knees on which are inscribed a list of offerings designed to serve the needs of the dead, including beer and cakes.
An Egyptian Green Peridotite Head of a Man

Egyptian blue-glazed steatite figure of Taweret, goddess of childbirth

Block statue of a man and the sacred baboon of Thoth, Egyptian, serpentine, 26th/30th Dynasty, 664-342 B.C. Sold for $856,000 in 2006
Sphinx of Egyptian queen, green porphry, Roman Imperial, circa A.D. 81-96. $5,234,500.
Egyptian steatite figure of Sobek

Djehuty-Mose (Tothmes), polychrome limestone ushabti, Egyptian 19th Dynasty,1292-1190 B.C. $1,314,500
Black granite or basalt relief fragment from the 30th Dynasty/Early Ptolemaic Period, reign of Nectanebo II /Ptolemy I, 360-282 B.C. $211,500 in 1998
Limestone figure of lion, 30th Dynasty/Ptolemaic Period, 380-30 B.C. $154,250 in 2001.