Francesca Hickin
Head of Department
Lot 38*
An Egyptian turquoise glazed composition lotus chalice
6 July 2021, 15:00 BST
London, New Bond StreetSold for £17,750 inc. premium
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Anna Marston
Associate Specialist
An Egyptian turquoise glazed composition lotus chalice
Third Intermediate Period, 21st-22nd Dynasty, circa 1069-735 B.C.
The tall trumpet-shaped cup moulded on the exterior with eight long lotus petals each with central vein, the tips of the petals interspersed with small papyrus umbels, a band of notched decoration around the rim, the stem and foot decorated with further flaring lotus petals, 13.5cm high
Third Intermediate Period, 21st-22nd Dynasty, circa 1069-735 B.C.
The tall trumpet-shaped cup moulded on the exterior with eight long lotus petals each with central vein, the tips of the petals interspersed with small papyrus umbels, a band of notched decoration around the rim, the stem and foot decorated with further flaring lotus petals, 13.5cm high
Footnotes
Provenance:
Private collection, New Jersey.
with Gawain McKinley (1945-1996), London, 1992.
with Antiquarium Ltd, New York.
Private collection, USA, acquired from the above 19 March 1992.
For a similar example cf. F. D. Friedman, Gifts of the Nile, London, 1998, pp. 126 and 224, no. 114. Friedman discusses how cups such as the above lot were intended to represent the scented blue lotus and to symbolise new life. Depictions of chalices show them being used as libation cups and also for holding flowers and vegetables. For another chalice see A. Caubet & G Pierrat-Bonnefois, Faïences de L'Antiquite, Musée du Louvre, 2005, p. 100, fig. 260. Here it is noted that a similarly decorated cup is interpreted as representing the papyrus and lily, thereby depicting the unified plant symbols of the Kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt.