Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet
Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet
Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet
Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet
Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet

Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet

SKU: MS.0002

Origin: Egypt
Circa: Late Period - Ptolemaic Period, CIRCA 664 BC -30 BC
Dimensions: 7.25" Height x 2" Width x 3" Depth, 6" height x 1.4" Width x 2.25" Depth (without stand)
Medium: Bronze

The goddess Sehkmet is a powerful divine figure who, throughout the long and storied annuls of Egyptian history could instill both terrifying ferocity and motherly tenderness.  Our lion-headed goddess statue effectively transmits both qualities, seen mounted on a later giallo antico base acting as a throne. Atop her head we we can see a uraeus-fronted sun-disc sitting above her tripartite wig. She wears a tightly-fitted high waisted long dress, and clenches her fists on both of her thighs.  She is at once relaxed and engaged, befitting a deity with the power to both spread disease and cure it.

 

 

More information View images

Antoni Argullol y Ferran (1910-1998) collection. Legado Argullol; Subarna, Barcelona, 17 December 2009, lot 126

Surface possibly polished, some cracks on the sun disk, a vent hole at the back of the disk.

Sekhmet was a powerful and unique therianthropic mother goddess with the body of a woman and the head of a lion. In various contexts she held dominion over everything from fire to magic, as well as hunting, wild animals, death, war, violence, retribution, justice, plague, chaos, the desert wind, mid-day sun, medicine and healing. As with many Egyptian goddesses, through her myriad associations, she had two polarized aspects to her personality--on the one hand a dangerous and destructive aspect, and on the other hand a healing and protective aspect. Her name literally means ‘The powerful one’ or ‘One who has control’.

For a similar example, also with giallo antico base, see the Louvre Paris, Département des Antiquités égyptiennes, Salle 317 - Les dieux et la magie, Vitrine 2, Inventory E 2443.

Geroge Hart, 1986, Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, 1986.

Martha Ann & Dorothy Myers Imel, 1993, Goddesses in World Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary.

Richard B. Wilkinson, 2003, The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt.

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Late Dynastic

Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet

Late Dynastic

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