Egyptian Bronze Seated Horus / Harpokrates

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Ancient & Ethnographic Art Through The Ages

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 22, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-10-22 10:00:00 2020-10-22 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Ancient & Ethnographic Art Through The Ages https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-ethnographic-art-through-the-ages-5850
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• Lot Description
  Egypt, Ptolemaic period, ca. 332 to 30 BCE. A striking solid cast-copper alloy statuette of the child god Horus/Harpokrates (from the Egyptian "Her-pa-khered" or "Horus the Child") seated nude with slightly bent legs and feet planted atop an integral rectangular plinth. With his left arm resting parallel to his body, he holds his right index finger to his mouth, a fitting pose for the god of silence. His youthful visage exhibits almond eyes, a button nose, full smirking lips, and a curled sidelock of youth draped on one side. He wears a nemes wig cover with two frontal lappets and a hemhem (hemhemet or Atef) crown on top consisting of a trio of "mw" crowns topped with sun discs and flanked with ostrich feathers. A small serpent, called a uraeus and symbolizing supreme power, peers out from the top of his head, alluding to his future kingship. The well-formed figure is a lustrous dark copper with scattered areas of green patina adding a touch of color. Size w/ Included Custom Stand: 1.75" L x 2" W x 3.375" H (4.4 cm x 5.1 cm x 8.6 cm)
  
  Harpokrates (also Harpocrates) was, in many ways, one of the most popular deities in the Egyptian pantheon for centuries on end. The offspring of Osiris and Isis, Harpokrates was originally thought to be a protective deity, warding dangerous magic and creatures away from the wielder of his effigy. His depiction as a child was a common sight in ancient Egypt as infantile gods were favored to their adult characterizations from roughly the Third Intermediate Period on into Greco-Roman times. Created mostly as temple votives, child gods were thought to have a higher concentration of power and influence, thus making for a stronger prayer request when left as an offering.
  
  Comparable figures of larger scales can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as accession numbers 10.177.3 and 07.228.23 and also at Emory University's Michael C. Carlos Museum as object numbers 2018.010.099 and 2011.023.001. A slightly larger similar statuette was sold at Christie's New York as lot 101 "Antiquities" on 9 December 2005.
  
  Provenance: ex Estate of Eldert Bontekoe, Pegasi Numismatics, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA acquired before 2000
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #158884

  Condition

  Minor scratch on right arm proper. Adhesive on base of plinth, likely from being previously displayed. Lovely patina and earthen deposits throughout.
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