Predynastic hippopotamus amulet
Price: on request
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Object number
AR3254
| Object: |
Predynastic hippopotamus amulet
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| Material: |
Red-orange carnelian.
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| Period: |
Naqada III culture, circa 3200 BC to 3000 BC. Predynastic Egypt. |
| Description: |
Amulet in the form of a recumbent hippopotamus. The body is flat and flat-bottomed, but otherwise fully sculpted. Simplified facial features. Deep grooves or wrinkles on the body. The contours were once emphasized with black paint, the remains of which are still contained in the grooves. A drill hole runs lengthwise through the body, so the hippo figurine could and still can thus be threaded on as an amulet. It is a large figurine for this type of object.
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| Dimensions: |
35mm long, 21mm high, 14mm deep.
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| Condition: |
Rear part and part of the snout broken-off and missing. Some stable cracks on the surface, which subtly indicate the age of the piece. Otherwise wonderfully preserved. Impressive orange-red stone. On the bottom an old sticker from a previous owner reading "Tyr" or "Pyr".
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| Provenance: |
Acquired by us in 2021 on the German art market. Previously in the German private collection K. R. Acquired for the collection on the art market between 1980 and 2000. The piece was already in a collection in Germany or Great Britain in 1913, as can be concluded from the publication mentioned below. Giza is stated as the place it was purchased. It was probably also originally found within the Giza necropolis complex.
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| Publication: |
This piece is published in Alfred Wiedemann, Notes on some Egyptian Monuments, in Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archeology Vol. 35 (London, 1913), pp. 259, No. 19. Alfred Wiedemann (1856-1936) was a German Egyptologist, at the time of the publication Professor at the University of Bonn. He published several works on ancient Egyptian amulets and also collaborated on this subject with the famous British Egyptologist Percy Newberry. |
| Authenticity: |
We unconditionally guarantee the authenticity of every artefact, all items are subject to our lifetime return policy on authenticity.
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