A RARE LAPIS LAZULI FIGURE OF ISIS, LATE PERIOD, 664-332 BC
Lot 59 - ANT1125

Ancient Egypt. The striding figure is shown mounted on a rectangular, flat base, wearing a tripartite wig and a stepped crown shaped as her hieroglyph, together with a close-fitting sheath dress. A piercing through the back pillar allowed for suspension. The opaque stone displays an intense deep-blue color, a hue highly prized and venerated in ancient Egypt.

Provenance: The collection of Dr. Hans Waldmann-Stettler (1906–1989), acquired before 1989; thence by descent to Dr. Hans-Rudolf Ehrbar-Waldmann (1943–2024), son-in-law of the above; thence by descent to the last owner, Peter Kohut (b. 1968). A copy of a handwritten collector’s note from Hans Waldmann-Stettler, where the present lot is listed as number one, accompanies this lot. Hans Waldmann-Stettler (1906–1989) was a Basel-based geologist with a private collection that included minerals, rocks, and some antiquities. According to oral tradition, he was a direct descendant of the famous 15th-century mayor of Zurich of the same name. Waldmann’s professional interest in geology shaped his collecting, though little is known about the antiquities he owned.
Condition: Very good condition with old wear, commensurate with age. Tiny nicks, light surface scratches and soiling.

Weight: 3 g (excl. stand), 12 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 4.2 cm (excl. stand), 5.5 cm (incl. stand)

With an associated acrylic glass stand. (2)

Isis was one of Egypt’s most beloved and versatile goddesses, embodying the powers of motherhood, magic, protection, and the resurrection of the dead. She was often depicted as a woman wearing a throne glyph or a crown of cow horns with a solar disk, sometimes shown nursing Horus or alongside Osiris, reflecting her central role in the myth of Osiris’s death and rebirth. Small statuettes and votive figures of Isis proliferated across Egypt and into the Greco-Roman world, used in domestic and temple devotion, amuletic protection, and funerary contexts to invoke her protective powers over the living and the dead.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related lapis lazuli miniature statuette of god Ptah, dated to 945-600 BC, in the Third Intermediate Period-Late Period, 5.2 cm (high), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 2007.24. Compare two related lapis lazuli amulets of goddess Nephthys and Neith, dated to 724-332 BC, in the Art Historical Museum Vienna, inventory number INV 2554 and INV 8348.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s London, 7 July 2023, lot 216
Price: GBP 76,200 or approx. EUR 95,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian lapis lazuli figure of Maat, 25th/26th dynasty, 750-525 B.C.
Expert remark: Compare the identical material, modeling and similar expression, and size (4.8 cm). Note the different pose.

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