A CARVED SERPENTINE EGYPTIAN FACE FRAGMENT

拍品描述

A CARVED SERPENTINE EGYPTIAN FACE OF HATHOR, EGYPT, LATE PERIOD, CIRCA 664-332 B.C. Of arched form, carved in relief with the frontal face of the goddess Hathor emerging from a rounded plaque, the tripartite wig framing the face with finely incised horizontal striations across the crown and vertical striations along the lappets that fall to either side of the neck. The features are broad and symmetrical, with almond-shaped eyes recessed and originally inlaid, the pupils now lost, above a straight nose and full lips set in a level expression. The characteristic bovine ears of Hathor project laterally from beneath the wig. A single suspension perforation pierces the plaque at the crown of the head. The surface retains a mottled patination of green, ochre and reddish-brown, with cupreous deposits and earthen encrustation across the recesses. The frontal, symmetrical treatment of the face, together with the bovine ears and the striated tripartite wig, identifies the subject as Hathor in her aspect as the great mother goddess and mistress of the sky. This iconographic type, known as the Hathor mask or Hathor head, was among the most enduring visual formulae in Egyptian religious art, appearing on sistra, naos capitals, temple columns, mirror handles, and as independent votive plaques from the Old Kingdom onward. The frontal presentation is significant in itself, since Egyptian figural art almost universally favours the profile, and the direct gaze of Hathor was understood to confer her presence upon the viewer in a manner reserved for a small number of deities, most notably Bes and Hathor herself. The choice of serpentine is consistent with a class of small votive and amuletic objects produced in the Late Period, when hardstones were favoured for their durability and their associations with regeneration and permanence. Green and dark-mottled stones were particularly associated with Hathor and with the goddesses of renewal, echoing the symbolism of malachite, a mineral over which Hathor herself presided as "Lady of Malachite" in her Sinai cult. The suspension hole at the crown indicates that the plaque was intended to be worn or suspended, likely as a votive offering deposited at a shrine or carried as a personal amulet under the goddess's protection. The face type, with its broad cheeks, level mouth and heavy-lidded eyes, follows the archaising tendency of Late Period sculpture, which drew consciously on the formal vocabulary of earlier dynasties while adapting it to the smaller scale of personal devotional objects. The lost inlays of the eyes would originally have animated the face, giving it the arresting frontal gaze that defined the Hathoric image. This plaque exemplifies the compact devotional Hathor image of the Late Period, in which the goddess's canonical frontal mask, developed at monumental scale for temple architecture, is condensed into a portable hardstone amulet for personal use. It preserves the essential iconography of one of the most widely venerated Egyptian deities in a form intended for direct contact between the goddess and her worshipper. Dimensions: Height: 4.2cm

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