By
Carter B. Horsley
This
October 28, 2019 auction of Antiquities at Christie's New York is
highlighted by an Egyptian painted wood anthropoid coffin for
Pa-Di-Tu-Aman from the Third Intermediate period in the 21st-22nd
Dynasty, circa 945-889 B.C. It is 71 7/8 inches high. It
was once with Olof Vilhelm Arrhenius of Stockholm and then with
Trammell Crow of Dallas.
It has been
widely published and was exhibited at tne Agyptologisches Institut at
the Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat in Heidelberg from 1980-84, the San
Antonio Museum of Art from 1990-2001 and the Mougins Museum of
Classical Art from 2011-2019.
The catalogue provides the following long and fascinating commentary about the ancient re-use of coffins:
"This
Third Intermediate Period coffin is one of the finest examples to ever
appear at auction. It was acquired by the Swedish scientist Olof
Vilhelm Arrhenius during his travels to Egypt in the 1920s and shipped
home in a warship. It first became known to a wider audience when his
descendants put it on loan in Heidelberg in the early 1980s, and it has
since been on loan to 2 other public institutions until the present
day. What makes this coffin remarkable is its excellent state of
preservation and extensive and fine pictorial representations across
almost every surface. In previous periods, Egyptian tombs were
decorated with painted or sculpted scenes but due to the extensive
destruction during the Third Intermediate Period, this extensive
imagery was transferred to coffins as seen here.
"Consisting of a lid originally made for a woman and a trough made for
a man named Pa-di-tu-Amun, this coffin set reflects extensive ancient
reuse of elements of coffins from earlier burial ensembles, and further
shows evidence of multiple alterations on its lid. Since Egyptian
coffins of this period were made in standardized sizes, the lid of one
could easily be “married” to the trough of another. A close examination
of this coffin however allows a more complex understanding of the many
changes undergone by both parts of the coffin in ancient times. Most
likely, Pa-di-tu-Amun adapted the lid of the coffin of a priestess to
match his extant coffin trough some time in early Dynasty 22. The clear
addition of a beard on a female face implies that both elements were
used together by a male owner in antiquity.
"The lid of this coffin is of the 'stola' type, named for the red
'mummy braces' or stola painted above the floral collar encircling the
upper part of the body. Stola coffins exclusively occur after the end
of the 21st Dynasty during the first few reigns of Dynasty 22, and 129
examples of stola coffins (including this one) have been extensively
classified by R. van Walsem....The decoration scheme of this lid is
identified in his authoritative work as stola coffin type 12Bb, based
on the arrangement of the floral collar on the upper body, the layout
of winged sundisks and goddesses in the central portion, and the
pattern of vertical text bands and vignettes from the knees to feet.
The clearly modeled breasts, as well as the originally beardless face
painted yellow indicate that the lid was originally made for a female
owner. The coffin shows extensive traces of reuse, including several
alterations of the lid probably reflecting reuse for various
priestesses associated with the cult of Amun. The latest textual
alteration features the titles 'mistress of the house, chantress of
[Amun]', which helps to relate this coffin to burials of members of
families of the Amun priesthood throughout western Thebes, especially
with the the famous 'Second Cachette' discovered in 1891 at Deir
el-Bahri in the Bab el-Gasus tomb. Consisting of more than 250 coffins
and mummy-covers, the circumstances of this discovery have been
authoritatively studied by A. Niwinski (21st Dynasty Coffins from
Thebes: Chronological and Typological Studies) and R. Sousa (Gleaming
Coffins: Iconography and Symbolism in Theban Coffin Decoration (21st
Dynasty), vol. 1). Stola-type coffins are known from many locations in
western Thebes and further afield, however, and this example may well
derive from a context other than the Bab el-Gasus find.
Detail of coffin lid
"Originally
decorated in polychrome painted images and hieroglyphs on a white
background, the lid was covered with a coating of resin that gave it
its yellow color. The original polychromy features bright pigment,
including a distinctive 'apple green' color that is documented on other
stola coffins. At some later point, relief decoration was added in
thick dark green gesso, partially covering the earlier polychromy –
this can especially be noted on the wings of the goddesses and winged
sun disks, as well as on the two vertical bands of inscription. These
text bands feature the offering formula drawn in narrow hieroglyphs in
yellow, invoking Re-Harakhty-Atum (left-hand column) and Osiris
(right-hand column). A third layer of alteration is discernible in
thicker yellow signs on a black background naming the chantress title
as described above; this might represent an addition only of the titles
and a name, which is unfortunately entirely missing on the lid, due to
losses near the feet. The name of the original owner of the lid is
presumably covered beneath these later layers of paint. We may
therefore imagine at least two and possibly three uses of the coffin
lid by female owners, prior to its adaptation for a male burial. The
underside of the coffin lid is coated in thick black resin, a material
which was liberally applied to mummies and funerary equipment in order
to allow divine transformation of the soul of the deceased.
Detail of inside of coffin
"The
trough extensively features the name, titles, and genealogy of the
'Chief of Servants/Weavers of the House of Amun' Pa-di-tu-Amun (a
variation of the extremely common name Pa-di-Amun, 'the one whom Amun
gave'). This final alteration may have been made at the time of the
association of the lid with the trough intended for Pa-di-tu-Amun,
which would have necessitated the addition of a beard to the female
face. It is unusual that the breasts were not removed in the final
transformation of the coffin; in other similar instances the breasts
were removed and painting was done to mask their removal (see Louvre AF
9593 in Niwinski, op. cit., no. 349). The hands are a modern
restoration, and the form of the original hands (usually open for a
woman, and shown closed as here for a man) is not known. The research
of K. Cooney on the extensive reuse of coffins during the Third
Intermediate Period has resulted in a heightened awareness of the
frequency of the reuse of funerary items during this era, exemplified
very clearly in the present example (see The Cost of Death: The Social and Economic Value of Ancient Egyptian Funerary Art in the Ramesside Period).
Cooney has found that about 50 percent of all yellow coffins were
reused, while as many as 75 percent of the coffins from the Bab
el-Gasus cachette have traces of reuse.
"The trough of the coffin is richly decorated in polychrome iconography
that combines themes from the Underworld books
(the Amduat and the Book of the Earth) with elements of
funerary ritual. Making use of directional symbols, as well as a rich
iconography of both the Osirian and solar cycles, the coffin formed a
microcosm to protectively envelop the deceased and enable his or her
eternal transformation into a divine being. Described by de Araújo
Duarte (op. cit.) as the 'coffin which best attests the level of
intericonicity between elements of the funerary procession with those
of the Amduat,' this example stands out among those he studied. Scenes
of a solar barque being dragged on a sled by various divine beings
dominate both the right and left sides of the coffin exterior, and
combine elements of the 10th and 12th Hours of the Amduat, iconography
that is well-known from royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings. An
especially interesting scene depicts groups of ba-souls
(human-headed birds) with arms raised in adoration, as well as
human-headed uraeus cobras, all pulling the ropes of the solar boat
containing the ram-headed sun god, who is protected by
the mehen-serpent and accompanied by goddesses Isis, Nepthys and
Maat. A mummified and seated baboon deity may be interpreted as a form
of the god Osiris at the end of the 12th hour of the night. As on
contemporary papyri, the coffins of the late Third Intermediate Period
tend to emphasize the last four hours of the journey of the solar bark
through the night. These scenes of a boat on a sledge also evoke the
funerary procession of the mummy of the deceased to the tomb,
implicitly linking the landscape of western Thebes with the divine
landscape of the Underworld. The texts inscribed both inside and
outside of the coffin trough similarly evince a combination of standard
offering formulas and mortuary texts with otherworldly content. Every
empty space around figures and blocks of text is filled with emblematic
signs or sign groups that serve as protective devices and brief
captions, some with enigmatic meaning. The extremely intricate
iconography of the exterior of the trough features many well-drawn
details of interest- a male figure (possibly the coffin owner) holding
an oar; a small figure of a priest playing a double flute; mirror-image
groupings of Osiris, Isis, and Maat associated with figures of a divine
cow; and symmetrical representations of the 'Abydos fetish,' the
reliquary of Osiris’ head. The rim of the entire coffin trough is
crowned with a frieze of protective uraeus cobras, beneath which a long
register of text featuring offering formulas unfolds in either
direction from an ankh sign at the head, here probably
introducing the formulas with a wish of 'May he live!' and detailing
Pa-di-tu-Amun’s genealogy.
"Pa-di-tu-Amun’s descent from a line of men carrying the same title is
mentioned repeatedly in the abundant inscriptions on the exterior of
the coffin trough, often in association with images of Pa-di-tu-Amun
before an enthroned deity. His father is named as Ipui-wer (Ipui the
Elder), who also held the title of 'Chief of Servants/Weavers of the
House of Amun, and the scribe of those who belong to the House of
Amun.' The coffin owner’s grandfather is named as 'Chief of
Servants/Weavers of the House of Amun' Userhet-mose, who might be
associated with the owner of a coffin now in Cairo (Inv. 29661) found
in the Bab el-Gasus cachette. The genealogy of a family featuring the
names Ipui the Elder and Userhet-mose is also detailed on a Dynasty
22-23 block statue in Cairo from the Karnak Cachette and may represent
descendants of the same family of priests....
"The interior of the coffin trough is dominated by a large mummiform
figure of the god Osiris crowned with the nemes headdress and
triple atef or hemhem-crown, standing atop the
hieroglyph for gold. The name of 'Osiris, Foremost of the West[erners]'
graces a cartouche in the location that would correspond to the
location of the head of the mummy of the deceased, who is considered to
be joined with Osiris. The figure of Osiris is surrounded by figures of
the goddess of the West, the vulture goddess Nekhbet, falcon deities, a
bearded serpent deity, a figure of Anubis, and shrines possibly
representing Upper and Lower Egypt. Below the dominant image of Osiris
are standing and kneeling figures of Isis flanking an anthropomorphic
form of the djed-pillar, symbol of Osiris, holding the 'Isis knot'
or tyet symbol in either hand. Jackal divinities in animal
form flank the register below, followed by
alternating djed and tyet symbols of Osiris and
Isis, reinforcing the major theme of the coffin’s interior decoration.
"Either side of the mummy’s head is decorated on the trough interior
with scenes of Pa-di-tu-Amun in the form of a standing mummy before the
enthroned god Osiris. On either side of the coffin interior,
Pa-di-tu-Amun kneels before a snake deity and Osiris. At the bottom on
either side, the mummified Pa-di-tu-Amun stands before jackal-headed
Anubis, protector of the cemetery (one figure is labeled as In(p)ut, a
female jackal deity). Gender complexity is exemplified throughout the
coffin’s text and decoration in various ways, including forms of Isis
depicted as a bearded male deity. It is therefore difficult to
disentangle the issues of coffin reuse for male and female owners from
the issues of gender as they relate to the gender fluidity of ancient
Egyptian religious concepts (for example, the inherent nature of female
association with the male god Osiris upon death) – these rich
complexities enhance rather than detract from the appeal of this coffin
set."
The lot, which was the cover illustration of the catalogue, has an estimate on request. It sold for $3,255,000 including the buyer's premium as do all results mentioned in this article.
Lot 457, an Egyptian "cosmetic" blue cosmetic vessel of Bes, Late Period, circa 664-404 B.C. It is 3 3/16 inches high.
Another
item from the Mougins Museum of Classical Art is Lot 457, an Egyptian
"cosmetic" blue cosmetic vessel of Bes, Late Period, circa 664-404
B.C. It is 3 3/16 inches high.
The catalogue provides the following commentary:
"Arguably
the earliest documented image of Bes in Western literature, this upper
portion of a finely crafted cosmetic vessel was fashioned in Egyptian
blue, a form of frit. First published in 1698 in the form of a
woodcut accompanying a catalogue by a descendant of Michelangelo
Buonarroti in the collection of Cardinal Carpegna, the image of the
vessel predates the next known reference to a Bes image by more than a
century...."
It has an estimate of $120,000 to $180,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 461, Egyptian limestone Bes, Late Period, circa 664-404 BC, 8 1/4 inches high
Another
Bes is Lot 461, Egyptian limestone piece from the same period. It
is 8 1/4 inches high and was loan to the Brooklyn Museum from
1968-2002. It has an estimate of $25,000 to $35,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 437, a Greek gold oak wreath, Late Classical to Early Hellenistic Period, circa 4th-3rd Century, B.C., 17 1/2 inches wide
Lot
437 is a spectacular Greek gold oak wreath, Late Classical to Early
Hellenistic Period, circa 4th-3rd Century, B.C., 17 1/2 inches wide.
The catalogue provides the following commentary:
"In ancient Greece, foliate wreaths fashioned from gold, mimicking
natural forms such as laurel, myrtle, olive, ivy, and, as here, oak,
were given as prizes, worn in processions or in the symposia, dedicated
at sanctuaries and buried with the dead. Sanctuary dedications are
mentioned in temple treasury lists from as early as the 5th century
B.C., but surviving examples are few prior to the 4th century B.C. (see
pp. 123-124 in R. Higgins, Greek and Roman Jewellery). The meaning
of the different plant species employed for these wreaths is uncertain,
but in the case of oak, there is at least a clear association with Zeus.
"Elaborate gold oak wreaths have been found in the Royal tombs at
Vergina, including one placed within the gold larnax thought to have
enclosed the remains of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great (see
pl. 137 in M. Andronicos, Vergina, The Royal Tombs and the Ancient
City), and another found in situ on the shoulders of a silver funerary
hydria in the nearby so-called 'Prince’s Tomb' (pl. 184 in Andronicos,
op. cit.). The large amount of gold that flowed into Macedonia and
Greece following Alexander’s eastern campaigns led to a dramatic
increase in jewelry production, and high quality works were now
accessible to wider strata of society. As P. Adams-Veleni notes (pp.
102-103 in C.A. Picon and S. Hemingway, eds., Pergamon and the
Hellenistic Kingdoms of the Ancient World), "Indeed, rather than a
privilege of the gods, such wreaths were common among wealthy mortals,
whom they accompanied after death to the eternal symposium in the
beyond."
"Oak wreaths dated to the later 4th century B.C. have been found
throughout the Hellenistic world, east and west. See for example the
splendid example from the Dardanelles, now in the British Museum (no.
60 in D. Williams and J. Ogden, Greek Gold: Jewelry of the
Classical World) and one from Armento in South Italy, now in Munich
(pl. 23 in Higgins, op. cit.). Wreaths are also to be found on
depictions of victorious athletes, including statues, coins and gems,
although depending on the scale of the image, it is not always possible
to identify the type of wreath intended (see pp. 145-162, and
especially no. 156, a Hellenistic carnelian ring stone with an athlete
holding a wreath, and fig. 9, a bronze figure of an athlete wearing a
wreath, in J.J. Herrmann and C. Kondoleon, Games for the Gods, The
Greek Athlete and The Olympic Spirit).
"The present example is composed of cut-out sheet-gold leaves, 104 in
total, each on spiral-twisted wire and joined to ten stems radiating
outward from a central ring. Four acorns are preserved on four of the
stems."
The lot has an estimate of $150,000 to $250,000. It sold for $325,000.
Lot
450, Egyptian granite statue of Amenhotep, New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty,
reign of Amenhotep II-Thutmosis IV, 1427-1390 B.C., 8 1/4 inches high
The lot was once with Robin Symes of London and Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Perls of New York.
It has an estimate of $100,000 to $150,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 445, Roman marble relief with the Dioscuri, Hadrianic Period, Early 2nd Century, A.D., 38 3/8 inches long
Lot
445 is a large Roman marble relief with the Dioscuri, Hadrianic Period,
Early 2nd Century AD. It is 38 3/8 inches long. It has
exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 2014 to
2019.
It has an estimate of $500,000 to $800,000. It sold for $735,000.
Lot 458, an Egyptian bronze head of the goddess Wadjet, Late Period, 664-332 BC, 4 1/2 inches high
Lot
458 is a good Egyptian bronze head of the goddess Wadjet, Late Period,
664-332 BC. It is 4 1/2 inches high. It has an estimate of
$40,000 to $60,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 454, an Egyptian bronze figure of Osiris, Third Intermediate Period to Late Period, Circas 1069-525 BC, 6 1/2 inches high
Lot
454, an Egyptian bronze figure of Osiris, Third Intermediate Period to
Late Period, Circa 1069-525 BC. It is 6 1/2 inches high. It
has an estimate of $30,000 to $60,000. It failed to sell.
Lot 440, Roman bronze mask of Silen, circa 1st Century BC to 1st Century AD, 5 3/4 inches high
Lot
440, Roman bronze mask of Silen, circa 1st Century BC to 1st Century
AD. It is 5 3/4 inches high. It has an estimate of $40,000
to $60,000. It failed to sell.
See The City Review article on the Antiquities auction at Christie's New York October 25, 2016
with some great Roman marble statues of draped goddesses, a very fine
gold Roman tiara and several excellent Egyptian bronzes (10/24/16,
updated 12/15/16)
See The City Review article on the Antiquities auction at Christie's New York April 12, 2016 with several
excellent Roman marbles (4/12/16, updated 4/18/16)
See The City Review article on the Antiquities auction at Sotheby's New York December 8, 2015
with John Lennon's large granite statue of Sekhmet, a great Egyptian
steatite statue of Lady Iset, and a fine wood mummy mask (12/7/15,
updated 12/22/15)
See The City Review article on the Antiquities Auction at Christie's New York December 9, 2015
with a very fine Hellenistic statue of a boy, several good bronze
Egyptian statues of Bastet, and a good bronze Piravend figure of a woman
(12/7/15, updated 12/16/15)