ARCHEOLOGY & ANTIQUITIES
AN EGYPTIAN PAINTED LIMESTONE RELIEF FRAGMENT
£20,351.00
AN EGYPTIAN PAINTED LIMESTONE RELIEF FRAGMENT From Deir el-Bahari found by Édouard Naville.
Representing Seth scepter "the head of a seth" and a stone axe
Inserted into a marble plaque overall dimensions 906 mm x 124 mm x 20 mm.
with an inscription on the back
"Fouilles de Deir el-Bahari sculpture de la XI ème dynastie (2500 ??? )
Fin du ?? du roi Montouhotep
Trouvé par Édouard Naville"
Provenance : Former Collection A. T. Geneva, by descent in the family, acquired from the inheritor.
Was sceptres were used as symbols of power or dominion, and were associated with ancient Egyptian deities such as Set or Anubis as well as with the pharaoh. sceptres also represent the Set animal or Khnum. In later use, it was a symbol of control over the force of chaos that Set represented.
Seth was represented as a composite figure, with a canine body, slanting eyes, square-tipped ears, tufted (in later representations, forked) tail, and a long, curved, pointed snout; various animals (including aardvark, antelope, ass, camel, fennec, greyhound, jackal, jerboa, long-snouted mouse, okapi, oryx, and pig)
Seth was a powerful and often frightening deity, however he was also a patron god of the pharaohs, particularly Ramses the Great. He protected the dead on the way to the Afterlife.