Bronze Solar Barque Finial

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Late period, 28th to 30th Dynasty, 400-343 B.C.

Material: Bronze

Dimensions: 30 cm x 24 cm

Price: Sold

Ref: 1360

Provenance: Private collection of the French architect Michel Holley, acquired October 20, 1972. With a French antiquities passport and a photo from 1972 depicting the barge.

Condition: The side walls of the naos are reassembled from a few parts without any missing pieces. The Horus falcon reattached, otherwise wonderfully preserved.

Description: One of the very few remaining bronze solar boat finials that were used for processions and ceremonies in the Late Period. The barge with a semi-circular hull and a cylindrical extension in the centre, into which the attachment is affixed. Prow and stern in the form of stylized lotus flowers, just below the stern two eyelets. In the middle of the boat is a naos, the side walls in openwork. In front of it stands the falcon-headed god Horus with a double crown (Pschent), flanked by the goddesses Isis and Nephthys. The naos is crowned by a Horus falcon with a Pschent. Apart from this bronze solar barge, only two more complete ones are known. The most famous one is from Pharaoh Djedhor in the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon (inventory number 168). Another complete bronze barge is in the Egyptian Museum, a fragment is in the Museum Vleehuis in Antwerp (Accession Number 79.1). Mounted.