Lot 538
Translated Egyptian Greywacke Cippus of Horus-the-Child
Translated Egyptian Greywacke Cippus of Horus-the-Child
Starting Bid: $7,500
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Egypt, Late Period to Ptolemaic Period, circa 664–30 BCE. A carved greywacke cippus of exceptional quality depicting Horus the Child standing nude atop prostrate crocodiles, flanked by rearing cobras; feline and oryx figures crowd the lower register. The reverse carries eight registers of finely incised hieroglyphic magical spells with additional inscription along the sides and base. The deep blue-green greywacke and precision of the sign-cutting indicate skilled metropolitan workshop production. The cippus of Horus was among the most potent magical instruments of the ancient Egyptian religious world — simultaneously devotional image, magical instrument, and healing tool. A rare, fine, and ritually complete example. Includes an old block base. Size: 3"H x 1.88"W (7.6 x 4.8 cm)
Reverse Inscriptions — Register Translation
Based on visible hieroglyphic content and parallel texts within the published Horus cippus corpus, including the Metternich Stela (Metropolitan Museum of Art).
Register 1: Divine authority invocation — a Horus falcon standard establishes the sacred power under which the spells operate.
Register 2:
Iset weret mwt ntr — "Isis the Great, Mother of the God." The primary divine voice of the text is identified; Isis speaks the spells that follow on behalf of her son.
Register 3: Osiris formula — a protective or offering invocation naming Osiris, situating the text within the mythological narrative of Isis sheltering the child Horus while his father lay slain.
Register 4:
Ra-Horakhty invocation — "Re-Horus of the Two Horizons." The full solar power of Re is drawn into the protective program, joining the Osirian and Isian registers into a unified divine triad.
Register 5: Venom-expulsion formula — the operational heart of the cippus text. In the voice of Isis or Thoth:
"The poison flows back, the heart of Re is refreshed, the path of the god is open." Commands that affliction be driven from the body of the sufferer.
Register 6: Water ritual notation — repeated
mw (water) signs directly reference the primary use of the object. Water poured over these inscribed surfaces absorbed the power of the spells, becoming a curative liquid administered against snakebite, scorpion sting, and dangerous fever.
Register 7: Protective litany — closing divine invocations drawing on the authority of multiple deities; a
ka determinative suggests a life-force or spirit-protection formula.
Register 8: Concluding formula — compressed closing signs consistent with a sealing or binding statement, fixing the power of the preceding spells.
Side and base columns: Continuing protective invocations and deity names, standard to cippi of this type and period.
Provenance: Connecticut collection. Ex. J. Claessen, Bladel, Holland, a collection formed in the 1950’s - 1970’s.
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Item #
71830
- Condition: Some ancient loss along the top edge, otherwise intact.
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