A TURQUOISE-GLAZED FAIENCE AMULET OF KHNUM, THIRD INTERMEDIATE TO LATE PERIOD

Expert authentication: Simone Musso has authenticated this lot. A copy of Simone Musso’s declaration, dated 26 January 2025, will be provided to the winning bidder after full payment has been received. Simone Musso is a consultant curator for Egyptian antiquities at the Stibbert Museum and member of the Nuri Archaeological Expedition.

Egypt, 1069-332 BC. Minutely modeled, the ram-headed god striding upon a rectangular pedestal, his hands clenched at his sides, and wearing a shendyet-kilt. The head of the deity distinguished by a prominent snout and long, curving horns. The back of the figure pierced with a small hole for suspension.

Provenance: The Saoud bin Mohammed Ali Al-Thani Foundation. With an old collector’s label affixed to the base, inscribed ‘4514 BO’. Saoud bin Mohammed Ali Al-Thani (1966-2014) was a Qatari prince who served as minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage. By the turn of the 21st century, Sheikh Saoud had established an international reputation as an avid art collector, both for his own collection as well as those of several state-owned museums he oversaw in Qatar. Sheikh Saoud’s legacy as a collector is remarkable, as he laid the foundations of the major collections of Qatar Museums. In 2021, the Museum of Islamic Art hosted an exhibition in tribute to the legendary collector, titled A Falcon's Eye: Tribute to Sheikh Saoud Al-Thani.
Condition: Very good condition with expected wear and firing irregularities. Light remnants of old pigments to the pedestal and minor areas with soil encrustation.

Weight: 1.1 g
Dimensions: Height 3.1 cm

Khnum was among the earliest known deities in Upper Egypt, originally associated with the Nile cataract. He was regarded as the guardian of the annual inundation of the river, believed to issue from the caverns of Hapi, the god who personified the flood. As the rising waters of the Nile deposited fertile silt and clay while sustaining life along its banks, Khnum came to be venerated as the divine potter, the creator of human bodies, and the source of vital force.

Amulets, talismans and charms in ancient Egypt were personal ornaments believed to confer specific powers or abilities upon their wearer through their form, material or even color. Evidence of this understanding is indeed reflected in the ancient Egyptian lexicon, since three of the four terms commonly translated as amulet, ‘meket’, ‘nehet’, and ‘sa’, derive primarily from verbs meaning ‘to guard’ or ‘to protect’, while the fourth, ‘wedja’, is homophonous with the word for ‘well-being’. For the ancient Egyptians, amulets and jewelry were indispensable adornments, both as part of funerary equipment for the deceased and in the attire of the living. Funerary amulets and prescribed amuletic jewelry, however, were specifically created to be placed upon the wrapped mummy at burial, providing aid and protection on the perilous journey to the Other World and ensuring ease and security in the Afterlife. For a comprehensive study of the origin, symbolic significance, and formal typologies of amulets in ancient Egypt, see Carol Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt, 1994.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related glazed faience amulet of standing god Toth with ibis head, Egypt, Late period, dated 724-332 BC, 5.1 cm high, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, inventory number 1170. Compare a related glazed faience Toth amulet, Egypt, Late to Ptolemaic period, dated 664-30 BC, 3.4 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 96.21.1.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s London, 25 October 2012, lot 51
Price: GBP 10,625 or approx. EUR 20,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian green faience Khnum amulet, Third Intermediate to Late period, c. 1069-525 BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and manner of modeling. Note the larger size (7.6 cm).