Important Bronze Sceptre in Form of a Lotus Blossom with the Sacred Fish Oxyrhynchus

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Late period, 26th-30th dynasty, 664-343 B.C.

Material: Bronze, lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise

Dimensions: Late period, 26th-30th dynasty, 664-343 B.C.

Price: 14 000 Euro

Ref: 1499

Provenance: French private collection, acquired in the early 1980s. Thence auctioned with Tessier Sarrou & Associés, Paris on 27 November 2013, lot 66. Thence with Bonhams Paris on 7 October 2021, lot 119. Accompanied by a French antiquities passport.

Condition: Some of the colourful stone inlays in the calyx missing, otherwise intact and wonderfully preserved.

Description: Large and important bronze sceptre in form of a lotus blossom with lapis lazuli, carnelian and turquoise inlays. The sacred fish Oxyrhynchus, flanked by the goddesses Isis and Nephtys, sits on the calyx. Oxyrhynchus, a kind of elephant fish, ate the bodies of the drowned and therefore earned an important role in the funeral rite. He was said to have swallowed the phallus of the dismembered Osiris and thus achieved divinity. His importance is symbolized by the horned sun disk with a central uraeus, which he carries on his back. Oxyrhynchus had an own city named after him (today Al Bahnasa). It was the capital city of the 19th Upper Egyptian district since the period of the Saites. The lotus blossom is also considered as a symbol of Upper Egypt. Its blue and white blossom closes at night and reopens in the morning. For the ancient Egyptians this phenomenon reflects the sunrise at the beginning of creation, and the flower was worshipped as the daily resurrection and rejuvenation. See for the type of this very well preserved sceptre the example in the Louvre with the inventory number ME 299. On an old wood base.