Origin: Egypt Circa: 664 BC to 525 BC Dimensions: 15.25" (38.7cm) high x 15.5" (39.4cm) wide Collection: Egyptian Style: Late Dynastic Period Medium: Limestone This  More »

Origin: Egypt Circa: 664 BC to 525 BC Dimensions: 15.25" (38.7cm) high x 15.5" (39.4cm) wide Collection: Egyptian Style: Late Dynastic Period Medium: Limestone This limestone fragment retains an inscription, and the profile head of Ptah (or Peteh), one of the most important gods of the Egyptian pantheon. He is believed to have dreamed creation and called it into being; his name literally translates as the opener, opening his mouth to call creation into existence. He is held to be the “primordial mound”, taking the physical form of a mummified man or as Apis, the bull. The markers of his office include the ankh (key to the underworld), the was (sceptre) and the djed (pillar), and he is usually represented wearing a skull cap, as in the current case. He is intimately linked with most areas of Egyptian dynastic religion, giving rise to Atum (technically Nefertum, Atum’s younger form), becoming the specific god or protector for reincarnation, stonecutters/masons, sculptors, blacksmiths, architects, boat builders, artists, craftsmen and tomb-builders, as well as being a patron of the arts. His high priest was given the title of wr khrp hmw, "Great Leader of the Craftsmen", and his priests were probably linked to the different crafts. The opening of the mouth ceremony, designed to release spirits from their host bodies, is said to have been created by Ptah.   « Less

Pairof Gold Spider Earrings SF.336Origin:Afghanistan Circa:300BCto100BCDimensions:2.50(6.4cm)high Collection:Near Eastern Art Style:Bactrian Medium:Gold Location:Great Britain

Pairof Gold Spider Earrings SF.336Origin:Afghanistan Circa:300BCto100BCDimensions:2.50(6.4cm)high Collection:Near Eastern Art Style:Bactrian Medium:Gold Location:Great Britain   « Less

APairof Gold Earspools-OS.362Origin:Central Asia Circa:2000BCto500BCDimensions: 1.40 " (3.6cm) wide Collection: Jewelry Style: Bactrian Medium: Gold

APairof Gold Earspools-OS.362Origin:Central Asia Circa:2000BCto500BCDimensions: 1.40 " (3.6cm) wide Collection: Jewelry Style: Bactrian Medium: Gold   « Less

Origin: Egypt Circa: 664 BC to 525 BC Dimensions: 15.0" (38.1cm) high x 16.5" (41.9cm) wide Collection: Egyptian Style: 26th Dynasty Medium: Stone The 26th Dynasty,  More »

Origin: Egypt Circa: 664 BC to 525 BC Dimensions: 15.0" (38.1cm) high x 16.5" (41.9cm) wide Collection: Egyptian Style: 26th Dynasty Medium: Stone The 26th Dynasty, also known as the Saite Period, is traditionally placed by scholars at the end of the Third Intermediate Period or at the beginning of the Late Dynastic Period. In either case, the Saite Period rose from the ashes of a decentralized Egyptian state that had been ravaged by foreign occupation. Supported by the assistance of a powerful family centered in the Delta town of Sais, the Assyrians finally drove the Nubians out of Egypt. At the close of this campaign, Ashurbanipal’s kingdom was at the height of its power; however, due to civil strife back east, he was forced to withdraw his forces from Egypt. Psamtik I, a member of the family from Sais, seized this opportunity to assert his authority over the entire Nile Valley and found his own dynasty, the 26th of Egyptian history. Known as the Saite Period due to the importance of the capital city Sais, the 26th Dynasty, like many before it, sought to emulate the artistic styles of past pharaoh in order to bolster their own claims to power and legitimize their authority. Yet despite that artist sought to replicate models of the past, Egyptian art of this era was infused with a heightened sense of naturalism. This fact is likely due to the influx of Greek culture. The Saite rulers recognized that Egypt had fallen behind the rest of the Mediterranean world in terms of military technology. Thus, they were forced to rely upon foreign mercenaries, many of whom were Greek. With ties between these two cultures firmly established during the 7th Century B.C., commercial trading quickly blossomed. Special entrepots for foreign traders were established, including the famed center of Naucratis, a Delta town in which Greek merchants were permitted access. During the Saite Period, two great powers of the Mediterranean world became intimately linked, commercially and culturally. As the exchange of ideas flowed across the sea, the Greeks began to experiment on a monumental scale while the Egyptians began to approach art with an enhanced sense of realism.   « Less

Bactrian Lead - CK.0295Origin: Afghanistan Circa: 1000 BC to 500 BCDimensions: 11" (27.9cm) high x 11" (27.9cm)wide Collection:Near Eastern Style:Bactrian Medium: Lead

Bactrian Lead - CK.0295Origin: Afghanistan Circa: 1000 BC to 500 BCDimensions: 11" (27.9cm) high x 11" (27.9cm)wide Collection:Near Eastern Style:Bactrian Medium: Lead   « Less

Origin: Egypt Circa: 664 BC to 525 BC Collection: Egyptian Style: 26th Dynasty Medium: Cartonnage The 26th Dynasty, also known as the Saite Period, is traditionally  More »

Origin: Egypt Circa: 664 BC to 525 BC Collection: Egyptian Style: 26th Dynasty Medium: Cartonnage The 26th Dynasty, also known as the Saite Period, is traditionally placed by scholars at the end of the Third Intermediate Period or at the beginning of the Late Dynastic Period. In either case, the Saite Period rose from the ashes of a decentralized Egyptian state that had been ravaged by foreign occupation. Supported by the assistance of a powerful family centered in the Delta town of Sais, the Assyrians finally drove the Nubians out of Egypt. At the close of this campaign, Ashurbanipal’s kingdom was at the height of its power; however, due to civil strife back east, he was forced to withdraw his forces from Egypt. Psamtik I, a member of the family from Sais, seized this opportunity to assert his authority over the entire Nile Valley and found his own dynasty, the 26th of Egyptian history. Known as the Saite Period due to the importance of the capital city Sais, the 26th Dynasty, like many before it, sought to emulate the artistic styles of past pharaohs in order to bolster their own claims to power and legitimize their authority.   « Less

Origin: Egypt Circa: 664 BC to 525 BC Dimensions: 21.25" (54.0cm) high Collection: Egyptian Style: 26th Dynasty Medium: Wood Although Egypt was timber-scarce, her  More »

Origin: Egypt Circa: 664 BC to 525 BC Dimensions: 21.25" (54.0cm) high Collection: Egyptian Style: 26th Dynasty Medium: Wood Although Egypt was timber-scarce, her artisans availed themselves of an amply supply of quality hard woods in order to satisfy their creative impulses. The cultural horizons of ancient Egypt’s long history are replete with examples of magnificent sculptures in wood ranging in size from the miniature to the colossal and in date from the Old Kingdom to the Roman Imperial Period. The use of wood for funerary furnishings accelerated during the course of the Middle Kingdom when tombs were supplied with coffins and so-called models of daily like, richly painted and minutely detailed. The subsequent New Kingdom continued the use of wood for funerary paraphernalia, best exemplified, perhaps, by the numerous religious figures discovered within the tomb of Tutankhamun, but this period was best known for its wooden sarcophagi. This tradition continued into the Third Intermediate Period when lavishly decorated and varnished wooden coffins were often created as multiples, one resting within the other, as revealed by excavations in Thebes.   « Less

Rhyton in the Form of a Horse - RP.221Origin: Central Asia Circa: 1200 BC to 700 BCDimensions: 8.25" (21.0cm) high x 10" (25.4cm) wide Collection: Near Eastern Art Style:  More »

Rhyton in the Form of a Horse - RP.221Origin: Central Asia Circa: 1200 BC to 700 BCDimensions: 8.25" (21.0cm) high x 10" (25.4cm) wide Collection: Near Eastern Art Style: Amlash/ Luristan Medium: Terracotta Location: UAE   « Less

Origin: Egypt Circa: 525 BC to 332 BC Dimensions: 48" (121.9cm) high Collection: Egyptian Style: Late Period Medium: Painted Wood Our wooden panel doubtless comes from  More »

Origin: Egypt Circa: 525 BC to 332 BC Dimensions: 48" (121.9cm) high Collection: Egyptian Style: Late Period Medium: Painted Wood Our wooden panel doubtless comes from a lid of an anthropoid sarcophagus. It is preserved from about the level of the neck to that of the ankles. The decoration is restricted to specific zones, the first of which, at the top, consists of several concentric semi-circles of floral ornaments interspersed with geometric designs intended to recall actual floral collars placed on the deceased. The lowest strand of this collar consists of a row of tear-dropped shaped pendants which frame the principle figural scene depicting a kneeling goddess, facing right, with her wings outstretched as are her arms. Her fisted hands each hold an ostrich feather symbolically representing truth. She is depicted wearing a tightly-fitting garment which leaves her breast exposed, jeweled accessories, and a wig, held in place by a fillet on which is placed a sun disc. There are three panels of hieroglyphs arranged in the field around her, but the signs within each are too imperfectly preserved to afford a continuous English translation. She is separated from the lower section of this lid by a rectangular frame decorated with a metope-like decoration of the same type, but smaller in size, which separates each of the four figures there depicted. These are the Four Sons of Horus, identified by their unmistakable mummiform shape and the stylized mummy bandages which they hold in their hands in front of their bodies. They can be identified from top to bottom, left to right, as the human-headed Imsety and the jackal-headed Duamutef and the baboon-headed Hapy and falcon-headed Qebehsenuef. A single vertical column of hieroglyphs separates these two pairs of figures. It contains the standard funerary prayer, which may be translated as follows, “A boon which pharaoh gives to the god Osiris, foremost the Westerners, the great god, the lord of Abydos, so that the god Osiris might in turn grant an invocation offering of [bread and beer], oxen and fowl, wine…”   « Less

Lapis Sculpture ofa Ram-K.289Origin:Central Asia Circa:3000BCto2000BCCollection: Near Eastern Style: Sumerian Medium: Lapis Lazuli Location:Great Britain

Lapis Sculpture ofa Ram-K.289Origin:Central Asia Circa:3000BCto2000BCCollection: Near Eastern Style: Sumerian Medium: Lapis Lazuli Location:Great Britain   « Less