Exhibited Egyptian Limestone Sculptor's Model of Fist

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Exceptional Antiquities, Ethnographic and Fin...

By Artemis Gallery

Jun 29, 2023

Set Reminder 2023-06-29 10:00:00 2023-06-29 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities, Ethnographic and Fine Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-ethnographic-and-fine-art-13031
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• Lot Description
  Ancient Egypt, Late Dynastic Period, 26th to 31st Dynasty, ca. 664 to 332 BCE. A hand-carved limestone hand that was perhaps used as a reference model for a sculptor. The model left hand is clenched into a fist with the thumb overlaying the index finger in a natural position. Sculptors of all skill levels used models of various subjects, typically of human body parts when carving large or monumental sculptures. Size: 3.75" L x 1.6" W x 2.35" H (9.5 cm x 4.1 cm x 6 cm)
  
  A closed fist like this example may have served as a model for a larger sculpture, to teach apprentice sculptors how to replicate a master style, or to produce ushabti figures (small funerary statues for tombs). Though sculptors' models are typically difficult to date - with some being from the Amarna period of the 18th Dynasty when new forms of statuary came in - most known examples are from the Late Dynastic and Ptolemaic periods. The Egyptians were keen observers of fauna, with many different animals gracing their mythology, artwork, and hieroglyphs; however, anthropomorphic models were typically among the most challenging to carve accurately.
  
  While sculptors' models appear to be from larger composite figures, their incomplete presentation could be an entirely separate item typology. Ancient Greek sculptural incompleteness was a generic form of presentation as the viewer could extrapolate who or what a sculpture was meant to represent. In contrast, the ancient Egyptians would view an incomplete votive work of art only as it was: part of a bird, a disembodied head, or in one instance the hind quarters of a lion. The smooth surface at the top of this foot indicates that it is a complete object by itself. According to Eric Young of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "When we consider the Egyptian pieces as sculptors' models, however, their incompleteness is no longer disturbing, but entirely understandable. As is the case with unquestioned sculptors' models...the apprentice sculptor concentrated his energies on those portions of the figure that he found intriguing, or most difficult, and the master sculptor demonstrated the correct way to delineate a head…" ("Sculptors' Models or Votives? In Defense of a Scholarly Tradition." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, March 1964, p. 255).
  
  Exhibited in the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA), California State University, San Bernardino from 2007 to 2023, reference number EL01.008.2007.
  
  Provenance: Collection of Dr. W. Benson Harer, Los Angeles, California, USA; Exhibited in the Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art (RAFFMA), California State University, San Bernardino from 2007 to 2023, reference number EL01.008.2007.
  
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  #178978

  Condition

  Small chips and losses around hand, fingers, and wrist commensurate with age and environmental exposure, with darkening to some surfaces, light earthen and sand deposits, softening to some finer details, and roughness across most areas, otherwise in very good condition. This was likely a standalone model rather than a fragment from a larger composition. Nice preservation to overall form of hand. Number written on wrist.
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