Bronze with brown and green patina
Inventory number in ink on the tenon "E 624"
H. 11 cm
Egypt, circa 600 BC. J.-C.
Origin
With Smied Gallery "Coq Muet", Lausanne, 1977
Former Liechti collection, Switzerland (1950-1980)
Christie's, NY, June 8, 2012, lot 29
Comparative literature
ETIENNE M., Héka, Magic and bewitchment in ancient Egypt, Paris, 2000, pp. 54 ff.
KAKOSY L., About healing statues and a statue of Bès at the Louvre Museum
Publication
Reflections of the Divine, Pharaonic and Classical Antiquities from a Private Collection, Geneva, 2001, pp. 118-119, no. 110
Characterized by a cylindrical base, and a suspension tenon at the back, this badge represents the syncretic god Bes Pantheos; with the head of Bes and the body of a young man, it has 4 arms and a pair of outstretched wings, as well as a falcon's tail. His head is crowned with the atef crown. Around his face, small heads of divinities. He is shirtless and dressed in a short loincloth from which a cobra emerges on each thigh. On the base, a snake biting its tail, on the right an ichneumon and a scorpion at its feet. Despite its small size, the statuette is finely executed as indicated by the many details present.
This deity, although very well known both by written sources (cf. the magic papyrus of Brooklyn, XNUMXth dynasty) and by artistic representations (statuettes, stelae, bas-reliefs, etc.), remains rare. As S. Sauneron mentions, the pantheian deities actually represent a single god (in this case Bes, an apotropaic deity, guardian of young mothers and children). For the Egyptians of the first millennium. Before our era, the juxtaposition of several attributes only reinforced the magic powers of the god and thus protected them as well as possible from evil forces.
An Egyptian bronze priest pendant figuring Bes Pantheos, circa 600 BC
This solid bronze statuette has a large cylindrical tenon under the base and a suspension ring in the back. It represents a pantheistic god, whose very complex iconography is composed of symbols and attributes largely attested in Egyptian mythology: the head of the god Bes with the body of a young standing man, his left leg placed forward and his arms falling along the body; in the back, the tail of a hawk and a pair of spread wings with two additional arms attached on top of the wings; a headgear with a pair of sinuous ram horns, four feathers of Amon and a double uraeus; small heads of animals or deities encircling the head of Bes, serpents on the thighs and in the left hand placed forward; an oval base surrounded by a snake biting his tail, an ichneumon (on the right) and a scorpion near the feet. Despite its miniature size, the statuette is finely made, with an accurate modeling of the child's body and many plastic or incised details for the monstrous head of Bes, for the wings, the hands or the headgear. Bes Pantheos is a documented deity (although rather rare), both in figural arts (statuettes, small reliefs or stelae, etc.) and in Egyptian literature (see the illustrated magic papyrus of Brooklyn, dated to the 30th Dynasty). As notified by S. Sauneron, pantheistic deities represent a single god (here the dwarf Bes, an apotropaic deity, guardian of young mothers and children), whose attributes and symbols are clearly indicated to the viewer: for the Egyptians of the 1st millennium BC , the accumulation and juxtaposition of all these elements would strengthen the magical power of the god, on the principle that the divine omnipotence could oppose to misfortune and to the evil forces, and protect from their negative effects.
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Buyers inside European Union: The lot is sold under Temporary Import status. Buyers will only have to pay additional paperworks fees. No import VAT will be charged to them.
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