AN EGYPTIAN TURQUOISE FAIENCE ‘SEKHMET’ AMULET, THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-LATE PERIOD

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AN EGYPTIAN TURQUOISE FAIENCE ‘SEKHMET’ AMULET, THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD-LATE PERIOD This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve Egypt, circa 1150-332 BC. Finely modeled, the lion-headed goddess standing with her left leg advanced, the arms firmly at her side, wearing a close-fitting gown flowing seamlessly to her ankles. Her head is covered by a combination wig and leonine mane, surmounted by a uraeus. The coiled cobra pierced with a hole for suspension. The back with inscribed with a line of hieroglyphs reading “Sekhmet, mistress of heaven, [mistress of the Two Lands], may she give life.” Important Note: For essential information on the Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger Dimensions: Height 8.6 cm (excl. stand), 10.2 cm (incl. stand) Unlike many Egyptian amulets of lion-headed goddesses, whose precise identity may remain deliberately fluid, the present figure is identified by its dorsal inscription as Sekhmet, the powerful Memphite goddess whose name evokes strength and dominion. Amulets of leonine female deities became especially prominent from the Third Intermediate Period onward, reflecting a complex religious world in which Sekhmet, Bastet, Mut, Tefnut, Wadjet, Pakhet and related goddesses could share feline form and overlapping attributes. Sekhmet and Bastet were often understood as complementary aspects of divine feline power: Sekhmet fierce, solar, and destructive, embodying the burning heat of the sun and the avenging Eye of Ra, while Bastet represented a more pacified, protective, and benevolent force. The tall upreared cobra crowning the head of the present figure further enriches this ambiguity, for while such uraei may accompany images of Sekhmet, they also evoke Wadjet, the cobra goddess and protectress of Lower Egypt, who usually assumed this form. Small faience figures such as the present lot therefore served not merely as images of devotion, but as potent protective objects, concentrating in miniature the ambivalent power of the lioness goddess — at once dangerous, healing, and fiercely protective. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related faience amulet of a lion-headed goddess, Late Period-Ptolemaic Period, 5.3 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 35.6.12. Compare a closely related faience amulet of Sekhmet, 22nd Dynasty, 10.5 cm high, in the Louvre Museum, inventory number E 3500. Compare a closely related faience amulet of Sekhmet, 7.9 cm high, dated ca. 2085-332 BC, lent by the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, object number L.27.41.42. Auction result comparison: Type: Related Auction: Bonhams London, 5 December 2024, lot 18 Price: GBP 6,144 or approx. EUR 7,600 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and manner of carving with similar feline face, drapery, losses, and size (8.8 cm).

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