21st Nov, 2025 13:00

Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art

 
  Lot 30
 

30

AN ALABASTER GOBLET, NEW KINGDOM, XVIII DYNASTY

Starting price
€1,000
Estimate
€2,000
 

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Lot details

Published: Isabel Grimm-Stadelmann (ed.), Aesthetic glimpses. Masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art. The Resandro Collection, 2012, p. 42, no. R-139.

Egypt, c. 1550-1292 BC. Finely carved, the tapering body supported on a splayed foot with a recessed base and rising to an everted, thick-lipped rim. The translucent stone of a pale yellowish-white tone with natural inclusions.

Provenance: Christie's London, 11 December 1987, lot 58. The Resandro collection, Europe, primarily assembled between 1960s-1997, acquired from the above. Whilst enjoying their honeymoon on a Nile cruise in 1964, the newly-wed Resandros’ fell in love with Egypt, and a seed was planted of a life-long passion for collecting ancient art. The collectors formed one of the most important and largest private collections of primarily Egyptian antiquities in Europe, acquiring unique works at the major auctions and from respected dealers. The extensive collection, which primarily focused on bronzes but expanded to include exquisite amulets, elegant vessels and striking sculptures, was largely formed from this formative trip to Egypt in 1964 up until the end of the 1990s. Through their collecting, the couple formed a close relationship with the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst in Munich, Germany, and especially with Dietrich Wildung, Director of the Museum from 1975-1988, and Sylvia Schoske. This collaboration resulted in five major exhibitions and scholarly catalogues of the collection.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear and traces of use. Natural imperfections, including fissures and inclusions. Few minor nicks, light surface scratches, and one minute repair to the rim.

Weight: 155.8 g
Dimensions: Height 8.5 cm

Goblets of the type represented by the present lot functioned both ritually and symbolically during the New Kingdom of Egypt (1550-1070 BC). Executed in a precious and technically demanding material, these vessels were emblematic of elite status and luxury. Their primary function was to contain perfumes, oils, or other liquids employed in funerary rituals and cultic offerings, thereby facilitating the purification and protection of the deceased in the afterlife. Beyond their ritual utility, their refined aesthetic qualities and tactile smoothness rendered them suitable for ceremonial and courtly contexts, where they could also serve as drinking vessels within elaborate table services, including cups and wine jars, thereby signaling the extraordinary wealth and social standing of their owner in both life and posthumous commemoration.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related alabaster goblet, Egypt, New Kingdom, dynasty XVIII, dated 1550-1295 BC, 8.8 cm high, in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, accession number 03.1536a-d, and illustrated in Rita E. Freed, Egypt's Golden Age. The art of living in the New Kingdom: 1558-1085 BC, 1982, p. 129, no. 119. Compare a related tableware set of three wives of King Thutmose III in gold, silver, and gold-mounted glass and alabaster, illustrated in William C. Hayes, The scepter of Egypt, vol. 2, p. 141, fig. 77.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 11 December 2003, lot 35
Price: USD 5,975 or approx. EUR 9,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian calcite-alabaster goblet, Egypt, New Kingdom, dynasty XVIII, 1550-1307 BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, material, and manner of carving.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 12 October 2021, lot 103
Price: USD 4,375 or approx. EUR 4,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian alabaster foot jar, Egypt, New Kingdom, 1550-1295 BC
Expert remark: Compare the related form, material, and manner of carving. Note the similar size (7.9 cm).

 

Published: Isabel Grimm-Stadelmann (ed.), Aesthetic glimpses. Masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art. The Resandro Collection, 2012, p. 42, no. R-139.

Egypt, c. 1550-1292 BC. Finely carved, the tapering body supported on a splayed foot with a recessed base and rising to an everted, thick-lipped rim. The translucent stone of a pale yellowish-white tone with natural inclusions.

Provenance: Christie's London, 11 December 1987, lot 58. The Resandro collection, Europe, primarily assembled between 1960s-1997, acquired from the above. Whilst enjoying their honeymoon on a Nile cruise in 1964, the newly-wed Resandros’ fell in love with Egypt, and a seed was planted of a life-long passion for collecting ancient art. The collectors formed one of the most important and largest private collections of primarily Egyptian antiquities in Europe, acquiring unique works at the major auctions and from respected dealers. The extensive collection, which primarily focused on bronzes but expanded to include exquisite amulets, elegant vessels and striking sculptures, was largely formed from this formative trip to Egypt in 1964 up until the end of the 1990s. Through their collecting, the couple formed a close relationship with the Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst in Munich, Germany, and especially with Dietrich Wildung, Director of the Museum from 1975-1988, and Sylvia Schoske. This collaboration resulted in five major exhibitions and scholarly catalogues of the collection.
Condition: Good condition with expected wear and traces of use. Natural imperfections, including fissures and inclusions. Few minor nicks, light surface scratches, and one minute repair to the rim.

Weight: 155.8 g
Dimensions: Height 8.5 cm

Goblets of the type represented by the present lot functioned both ritually and symbolically during the New Kingdom of Egypt (1550-1070 BC). Executed in a precious and technically demanding material, these vessels were emblematic of elite status and luxury. Their primary function was to contain perfumes, oils, or other liquids employed in funerary rituals and cultic offerings, thereby facilitating the purification and protection of the deceased in the afterlife. Beyond their ritual utility, their refined aesthetic qualities and tactile smoothness rendered them suitable for ceremonial and courtly contexts, where they could also serve as drinking vessels within elaborate table services, including cups and wine jars, thereby signaling the extraordinary wealth and social standing of their owner in both life and posthumous commemoration.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related alabaster goblet, Egypt, New Kingdom, dynasty XVIII, dated 1550-1295 BC, 8.8 cm high, in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, accession number 03.1536a-d, and illustrated in Rita E. Freed, Egypt's Golden Age. The art of living in the New Kingdom: 1558-1085 BC, 1982, p. 129, no. 119. Compare a related tableware set of three wives of King Thutmose III in gold, silver, and gold-mounted glass and alabaster, illustrated in William C. Hayes, The scepter of Egypt, vol. 2, p. 141, fig. 77.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 11 December 2003, lot 35
Price: USD 5,975 or approx. EUR 9,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian calcite-alabaster goblet, Egypt, New Kingdom, dynasty XVIII, 1550-1307 BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form, material, and manner of carving.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 12 October 2021, lot 103
Price: USD 4,375 or approx. EUR 4,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian alabaster foot jar, Egypt, New Kingdom, 1550-1295 BC
Expert remark: Compare the related form, material, and manner of carving. Note the similar size (7.9 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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