An Egyptian wood figure of Duamutef

An Egyptian wood figure of Duamutef.

Ptolemaic Period, circa 400 - 30 BC.

Gesso painted with yellow slip, the lappet wig painted in blue, with details of the broad collar, the eyes, brows, and part of the mouth preserved in black paint. 

Provenance

Ralph Huntingdon Blanchard (1875 - 1936) Collection, Cairo. Blanchard was a dealer whose gallery, 'Blanchard's Egyptian Museum' was located in Sharia Kamel.
Geoffrey Lyster McDermott (1912 - 1978) Collection, UK, acquired from the estate of the above in 1946, thence by descent. McDermott was a British diplomat who became the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's adviser to the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). In latter years he turned to journalism and authored books on post-Suez British diplomacy.
Bonhams, London, 27 April 2006, lot 8.

Literature

This jackal-headed figure represents the god Duamutef. One of the four sons of the god Horus, Duamutef with his brothers guarded the four canopic jars containing the internal organs of the deceased. Duamutef guarded the stomach. The four sons were also thought to assist in the process of mummification and to provide nourishment, possibly because they were associated with the internal organs. Thus they had a general protective function for the deceased. For an example of a funerary figure of Duamutef see, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. 12.182.37a. 

Dimensions

Price on application

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance