
Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
£25,000 - £35,000
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Provenance:
Wilfred Sloane collection.
with Mina Saroufim, Geneva and Paris.
Mr A. collection, acquired from the above in 1975.
Published:
F. Antonovich, Les Métamorphoses Divines d'Alexandre, Paris, 1996, p. 119.
Ram-headed sphinxes, named as criosphinxes by Herodotus (2.175), were often representations of the god Amun; the processional routes to Amun's chief temple at Karnak were flanked by large criosphinxes. Wilkinson explains that Amun's depiction as a criosphinx emphasised his power and 'procreative vigour', as well as demonstrating his association with the lion, when in his solar-related form of Amun-Re (R. H. Wilkinson, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, London, 2003, p. 94-5).
See also a granite sphinx of the ram of Amun, which is depicted with similar folded front legs, in the British Museum, dated to the Kushite Period, circa 690-664 B.C., acc. no. EA1779.