Description:
A wonderful miniature, made from a piece of bone and meant to be a handle, possibly of a knife.
Delicately carved, this finial shows the head of an animal; its eyes are wide open, and its ears are shown flat against its head. A quadruple-ribbed collar is visible around the neck. The inside is partly hollowed out.
Small handles made of bone were already in use in the Early Dynastic Period, when they were roughly made; see for example a handle in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM, object no. 909.80.778), which dates to circa 3200-2700 B.C. and was possibly found in Abydos. They have been made for thousands of years; a knife handle, similar to our piece but dating from the Roman Period (circa 100 B.C.) and showing the bridled head of a horse, can be found in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge (inv.no. E.12.1971); another one, dating from the Ptolemaic Period, is in the British Museum (inv.no. 135718).
Especially during the New Kingdom the style was very refined, compare for example a bone handle in the ROM showing a bovine (object number 941.23.18), dating to the 18th-20th dynasty.
Dating:
Probably New Kingdom, 18th-20th Dynasty, circa 1550-1070 B.C.
Size:
Length 5.4 cm.
Provenance:
Collection of Walther Becker, Germany, who was ambassador to Egypt from 1954 until 1959; likely acquired during his stay there; thence German private collection, by descent from the above; thence Charles Ede Ltd., London.
Condition:
A rough break at the base, else intact.
SOLD
Stock number:
E1275