Lot 9
Ancient Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, 21st to 25th Dynasty, ca. 1070 to 664 BCE. A mold-formed pendant of Sekhmet, the lioness-headed goddess of war, military strategy, and healing. Covered in lustrous blue glaze, Sekhmet presents the recessed eyes and attenuated snout that comprise her feline face, and below the bases of her ears are a petite mane that lay atop the lengthy lappets of her tripartite wig. Her upper right arm is draped down her side, perhaps suggesting how it hung relaxed or bent at the elbow to hold a sistrum. A petite hole atop the head indicates this bust was adorned with a sun disc ornament at one time. Size: 1.625" W x 2.6" H (4.1 cm x 6.6 cm); 5.25" H (13.3 cm) on included custom stand.
Sekhmet (also Sakhmet), among the oldest deities in the Egyptian pantheon, is typically depicted as a lion-headed woman and sometimes wearing a sun disc on her head. When shown sitting, she usually holds an ankh of life or an instrument known as a sistrum; when standing, she wields a sceptre formed from papyrus, the symbol of Lower Egypt, the area with which she is most often associated. Her name comes from the Egyptian word "Sekhem" which translates to "power" or "might" - indeed Sekhmet is sometimes translated as "Powerful One" or "She who is Powerful." Sekhmet is also mentioned in several spells of The Book of the Dead, discussed as both a creative and a destructive force, but above all, the guardian of Ma'at (balance or justice) who defies evil.
Cf. a stylistically similar faience example of Sekhmet holding a sistrum - perhaps what the full figure this bust is from looked like - in Arnold, Dorothea. "An Egyptian Bestiary." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 1995, Vol. LII, no. 4, p. 18, fig. 14.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Jay Kislak collection, Miami, Florida, USA, acquired in the 1990s
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#175461
- Condition: Losses as shown, with chipping to head, ears, snout, and peripheries. Fading to glaze in some areas, with light earthen deposits, and minimal pitting. Nice preservation to overall form. Handwritten inventory number on verso.
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