Serpentine Relief with the Depiction of Thoth

Culture: Egpytian

Period: Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.

Material: Serpentine

Dimensions: 8.4 cm 6.8 cm

Price: Sold

Ref: 1246

Provenance: German private collection Wulff, acquired prior to 1970, since then in a family estate.

Condition: The lower end missing, a small chip on the left edge, otherwise intact.

Description: High-quality relief of black stone, possibly serpentine, depicting god Thoth in form of a baboon. Thoth is depicted seated, he wears a sun disk on his head and holds with both hands an udjat eye over an altar. In the right upper corner a winged sun with a big uraeus, the upper end is framed by another winged sun, flanked by two uraei. The scene is framed on the sides by columns and on top by a vault. A limestone relief with the exact same scene, possibly the so-called sculptor’s model, is in the British Museum with the museum’s inventory number EA1425. The back is flat. The high-quality relief was possibly once inserted in an important object or furniture. Mounted.