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Lot 9
A good limetsone relief with two women on a shell
Estimated Value:
4.000 € - 6.000 €
Result:
3.885 € incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
Lower Egypt. late 2nd - early 3rd century AD.52 x 41 cm
The stone shows an architectural frame with figures in raised relief. The picture field is closed off by a rounded roof, which is supported by two Egyptian columns with papyrus umbel capitals, giving the impression of a tomb. Two women are depicted in the centre, lying next to each other on a kline. Their upper bodies are propped up, their forearms resting on two cushions. Both are holding flowers (?) and a fruit (?) in their hands. The woman depicted on the right rests her right arm on the shoulder of her companion, whose legs are crossed. In her right hand she also carries a double-handled drinking vessel. To the left of the structure of the richly upholstered resting bed stand - on a much smaller scale - the sacrificers: two young girls in long robes, girded under their breasts, making offerings. Below the capital of the left pillar is a console on which a jackal-shaped beast of death is perched. This animal holds a drinking bowl in its mouth, presumably as a reference to the function of the funerary stele in the customs of the dead.
Important private collection Rhineland, acquired on 14.5.1960, lot 30 at Münzen und Medaillen AG, Basel, published in the catalogue Antike Kunstwerke, plate 12/13 top right with text description on p. 16, by descent within the family to the present owner
The hairstyles of the two women can be described as mixed; the hair is carefully parted and laid in waves. The dating and style indicate the turn of the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The shell limestone used was probably quarried in the area around Alexandria. Many stelae of this type come from Kom Abou Billou (western edge of the Nile Delta, south of Kaft Daoud).
Literature:
C. C. Edgar, Greek Sculpture, Catalog Général du Musée du Caire, Cairo 1903, esp. nos. 27538, 27542, 27544/5, 27548, pl. XXI-XXIII.
H. Gauthier, À Travers la Basse Égypte, VIII. stèles funéraires de Kom Abou Bellou, in: ASAE XXI, 1921, pp. 203-207 (with plates).
O. Koefoed-Petersen, Les Stèles Égyptiennes, Public. de la Glyptothèque Ny Carlsberg N. 1, Copenhague 1948, p. 63, no. 88/89, pl. 89/90 - Partly chipped and minor rest.
