A GREEK TURQUOISE FAIENCE SCARAB PTOLEMAIC PERIOD (332-30 B.C.)

拍品描述

A GREEK TURQUOISE FAIENCE SCARAB, PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, 332-30 B.C. Of characteristic oval form, the underside carved in low relief with a rearing horned quadruped, likely a caprid or ibex, shown in profile with the head turned back and the forelegs raised. The animal is flanked by schematic linear motifs and cross-hatched forms, arranged to fill the field within a plain oval border. The upper surface, though not visible here, would have carried the modelled beetle back typical of the type. The turquoise-glazed faience body retains substantial earthen encrustation across the base and edges, with the glaze surviving in strong colour where cleaned. The rearing caprid is a motif with a long history in the eastern Mediterranean, drawn from Near Eastern and Levantine glyptic traditions and absorbed into the mixed visual vocabulary of Ptolemaic Egypt. The subsidiary signs surrounding the animal are pseudo-hieroglyphic or ornamental fillers rather than a legible inscription, a convention frequent on scarabs produced for amuletic and sealing use during this period, when Egyptian sign forms circulated as decorative and apotropaic devices without necessarily conveying a readable text. The rearing pose itself carries associations of vitality and protective force, appropriate to the amuletic function of the object. Faience, a non-clay ceramic composed of a ground quartz body coated in an alkaline glaze, held particular significance in Egyptian material culture well beyond the Pharaonic period. Its bright blue-green colour was associated with regeneration, fertility, and the life-giving waters of the Nile, and objects of this material were understood to carry protective and regenerative properties independent of their form. Under the Ptolemies, the workshops of Lower Egypt continued to produce faience amulets, scarabs, and small figures in large numbers, serving both the resident Egyptian population and the Greek settlers who adopted Egyptian amuletic practice alongside their own. The scarab itself, an image of the beetle Scarabaeus sacer identified with the solar deity Khepri and with the daily rebirth of the sun, remained the pre-eminent amuletic form throughout this period. This scarab exemplifies the hybrid visual culture of Ptolemaic Egypt, where Egyptian material, form, and amuletic purpose are combined with a device drawn from the wider eastern Mediterranean repertoire. It stands within a broad class of late faience scarabs that document the persistence of Egyptian craft traditions under Greek rule and their absorption of foreign iconography. Dimensions: Length: 3.2cm

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