48 - PAINTED WOODEN MUMIFORM COFFIN WITH A FALCON HEAD

PAINTED WOODEN MUMIFORM COFFIN WITH A FALCON HEAD Egyptian art, Ptolemaic period, 332–30 B.C. A mummy-shaped coffin with a falcon head; the face has a golden complexion, with anatomical details painted in black; it wears a three-part headdress, the body entirely covered with polychrome decoration depicting, in the first register, a wide necklace with several rows of flowers and pearls, surmounting an ankh cross flanked by two cobras bearing, respectively, the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. Finally, on the bottom register, at the feet, are seven columns of hieroglyphic text, an invocation to Osiris. The reverse side depicts a dorsal pillar painted with a column of hieroglyphs reproducing the hymn associated with the god Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. There is a remnant of an old label, now incomplete: “No. 98-I8 Bo [x] having cate [x] Pto [x] period.” Height: 48.5 cm Provenance: Albert Eid & Cie, Antiquities, Cairo Arnold Victor Kunst Collection (1903–1981), acquired in 1950 Private English collection, acquired in 1981 Bonhams, London, April 25, 2012: lot 122 (ill.) Christian Levett Collection, Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins Exhibitions: Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins (MACM), Mougins, France, June 2011–August 2023 (Inv. No. MMoCA813) Caesar & Cleopatra, Historisches Museum Der Pfalz, Speyer, Germany, April 13–October 26, 2025 Bibliography: Bonhams, Antiquities, London, April 25, 2012, lot 122 An Egyptian painted wood falcon-headed coffin, Ptolemaic Period, 332–30 B.C.