21st Nov, 2025 13:00
Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art
1
A BRONZE FIGURE OF BES, LATE PERIOD TO PTOLEMAIC ERA
€1,000
€2,000
A buyer’s premium of 30.00% (including VAT) applies to the hammer price of this lot if your bid is successful.
Egypt, circa 664-30 BC. The bandy-legged dwarf god is shown nude, standing on a papyrus umbel, his arms lowered with hands resting on the hips, and a long tail reaching down to the umbel. His face bears a comical expression, with eyes and mouth neatly incised and framed by a scrolling beard, flanked by pierced ears, and surmounted by a headdress.
Provenance: With Nicolas Koutoulakis. The Poupouti Collection: Michèle and Jean Yoyotte, inventory number 67, acquired from the above on 22 January 1959, and thence by descent to Jean-Michel Yoyotte. A copy of the inventory listing, number 67, confirming the provenance above, accompanies the lot. ‘Poupouti’ is the nickname given to Michèle Yoyotte (1924-2023) by her husband, French Egyptologist Jean Yoyotte (1927–2009), evoking the diminutive of the ancient goddess of Heliopolis, also known as “the Golden One”. Yoyotte was a leading scholar of Late Egyptian history, religious geography, and the Third Intermediate Period. He served as director of studies at the EPHE (1964–1991), directed the Tanis Archaeological Mission (1965–1985), and was professor at the Collège de France (1991–1997). A graduate of the École pratique des hautes études, he joined the Institut français d’archéologie orientale in Cairo in 1953, remaining until 1957, a turbulent time in Egypt’s history. During these years he traveled widely, often with Bernard Bothmer, carefully visiting sites to which he later devoted seminal studies, particularly in the Delta—Heliopolis, Saft el-Hennah, Samanoud, Mendès, Tell Rozan, and others. Like her husband, Michèle Yoyotte shared a deep passion for Africa and became a central figure in the African art gallery scene of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, assembling a notable collection admired for its rigor. Equally enduring was her devotion to painting, with a focus on constructivist and geometric abstraction, including the MADI movement and kinetic art. A steadfast supporter of artists and galleries, she was a regular presence at openings, known for her spirited and humorous exchanges at spaces such as Claude Dorval, Lahumière, Akié Arichi, Emmanuel Carlebach, and Olivier Nouvellet.
Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Expected wear, obvious losses, rubbing, scattered nicks and scratches, signs of weathering and erosion. Overall with a fine, naturally grown patina, showing distinct malachite and cuprite encrustation.
Weight: 142.5 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 12.9 cm (excl. stand), 14.7 cm (incl. stand)
With an associated stand. (2)
Although often named simply Bes, this unusual figure is properly termed a Bes-image because it serves to represent a number of different deities who were protective gods, often with a close association to the protection of women and children during and after childbirth. The Bes-image has a mixture of attributes, displaying a dwarf’s body but also incorporating leonine features, such as a lion’s mane and tail. The Bes-image normally wears a feathered crown, which is broken on this figure.
Bes-images could be standalone offerings, as this one may have been, but they were also frequently incorporated into furniture or personal items to bring good fortune and protection daily. Bes figures had no central cult location, but they were widely manufactured and were closely linked with child gods, who were important in temple cult. Some small Bes shrines are known, and the Bes-image also had a role in temple mammisis, or birth houses.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related bronze figure of Bes on a column holding a knife, Late Period-Ptolemaic Period, dated 664-30 BC, 9.7 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 21.6.90.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s London, 20 April 2005, lot 388
Price: GBP 3,000 or approx. EUR 7,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian bronze figure of Bes, Late Period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and similar expression. Note the size (9.4 cm).
Egypt, circa 664-30 BC. The bandy-legged dwarf god is shown nude, standing on a papyrus umbel, his arms lowered with hands resting on the hips, and a long tail reaching down to the umbel. His face bears a comical expression, with eyes and mouth neatly incised and framed by a scrolling beard, flanked by pierced ears, and surmounted by a headdress.
Provenance: With Nicolas Koutoulakis. The Poupouti Collection: Michèle and Jean Yoyotte, inventory number 67, acquired from the above on 22 January 1959, and thence by descent to Jean-Michel Yoyotte. A copy of the inventory listing, number 67, confirming the provenance above, accompanies the lot. ‘Poupouti’ is the nickname given to Michèle Yoyotte (1924-2023) by her husband, French Egyptologist Jean Yoyotte (1927–2009), evoking the diminutive of the ancient goddess of Heliopolis, also known as “the Golden One”. Yoyotte was a leading scholar of Late Egyptian history, religious geography, and the Third Intermediate Period. He served as director of studies at the EPHE (1964–1991), directed the Tanis Archaeological Mission (1965–1985), and was professor at the Collège de France (1991–1997). A graduate of the École pratique des hautes études, he joined the Institut français d’archéologie orientale in Cairo in 1953, remaining until 1957, a turbulent time in Egypt’s history. During these years he traveled widely, often with Bernard Bothmer, carefully visiting sites to which he later devoted seminal studies, particularly in the Delta—Heliopolis, Saft el-Hennah, Samanoud, Mendès, Tell Rozan, and others. Like her husband, Michèle Yoyotte shared a deep passion for Africa and became a central figure in the African art gallery scene of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, assembling a notable collection admired for its rigor. Equally enduring was her devotion to painting, with a focus on constructivist and geometric abstraction, including the MADI movement and kinetic art. A steadfast supporter of artists and galleries, she was a regular presence at openings, known for her spirited and humorous exchanges at spaces such as Claude Dorval, Lahumière, Akié Arichi, Emmanuel Carlebach, and Olivier Nouvellet.
Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Expected wear, obvious losses, rubbing, scattered nicks and scratches, signs of weathering and erosion. Overall with a fine, naturally grown patina, showing distinct malachite and cuprite encrustation.
Weight: 142.5 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 12.9 cm (excl. stand), 14.7 cm (incl. stand)
With an associated stand. (2)
Although often named simply Bes, this unusual figure is properly termed a Bes-image because it serves to represent a number of different deities who were protective gods, often with a close association to the protection of women and children during and after childbirth. The Bes-image has a mixture of attributes, displaying a dwarf’s body but also incorporating leonine features, such as a lion’s mane and tail. The Bes-image normally wears a feathered crown, which is broken on this figure.
Bes-images could be standalone offerings, as this one may have been, but they were also frequently incorporated into furniture or personal items to bring good fortune and protection daily. Bes figures had no central cult location, but they were widely manufactured and were closely linked with child gods, who were important in temple cult. Some small Bes shrines are known, and the Bes-image also had a role in temple mammisis, or birth houses.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related bronze figure of Bes on a column holding a knife, Late Period-Ptolemaic Period, dated 664-30 BC, 9.7 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 21.6.90.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s London, 20 April 2005, lot 388
Price: GBP 3,000 or approx. EUR 7,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian bronze figure of Bes, Late Period
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and similar expression. Note the size (9.4 cm).
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Auction: Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art, 21st Nov, 2025
🎥 NEW: WATCH 13 INSIGHTFUL VIDEOS FROM OUR EXPERT
With our auction Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art on November 21, 2025, Galerie Zacke opens a new chapter.
After decades of specialization in the arts of Asia —from Japan, China, and Southeast Asia through Afghanistan and the Eurasian steppes to the Arabian Peninsula—we now take a step westward. This premiere is dedicated to the great cultures of antiquity: from the Levant and Egypt across the Mediterranean to Italy, the Balkans, and the Maghreb. A circle closes—along the ancient trade routes once traversed by conquerors from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan. Learn more.
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