Egyptian Black Hardstone Sphinx
Late Period-Ptolemaic Period, circa 500-31 B.C. An Egyptian or Graeco-Roman hardstone female sphinx modelled in the round, sitting on a sub-rectangular base, her hair tied in a bun on the top of her head, circular socket to the top face behind the head; mounted on a custom-made antique wooden display base. Cf. a heavily worn steatite(?) winged sphinx, dated to 90-10 B.C., was found at Meroe and is now in The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, inv.no.22-1-609. 74 grams total, 50 mm long including base (2 in.). From Saqqara in the late 1960s.With John Cummings, Lincolnshire, UK, 1990s.Acquired 20 May 1997.Property of a South Oxfordshire private collector.Accompanied by an original invoice no.6469 dated 20 May 1997.Accompanied by a scholarly note by Egyptologist Paul Whelan. This type of sphinx amulet is quite rare in Egypt, for instance, the vast output and variety of amulets identified from the Late Period industrial-scale workshops at Naukratis does not include three-dimensional winged sphinxes, only their image impressed in scarabs, suggesting that this example may have been an import and/or once the possession of a Greek person in Egypt.