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.

 

 

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.

ENQUIRY FORM

Late Dynastic

Egyptian Bronze Seated Sekhmet

Late Dynastic

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