Fragment of a Limestone Relief with the Depiction of Nile God Hapi

Culture: Egyptian

Period: New Kingdom, 18th-19th dynasty, around 1450-1189 B.C.

Material: Limestone

Dimensions: 20 cm x 26 cm

Price: 9 000 Euro

Ref: 1470

Provenance: With Jean-Loup Despras, gallery Orient Occident 1970. With a labeled old collection photo from before 1975. Thence collection Jean Deriat, Paris 2016. Last in the collection Michael Goughassian (1943-2020), Paris, acquired on 20 July 2021 from gallery Cybele. With a copy of the invoice.

Condition: Unrestored with wonderfully preserved colors.

Description: Limestone relief with beautiful original colors dating to the New Kingdom, depicting the upper body and arms of Nile God Hapi, who holds an offering table. Parts of vessels are recognizable on the table. Hapi was responsible for the flood of the Nile, which left behind fertile mud and which the Egyptians called the “Arrival of Hapi.” In addition, as the symbol of the life-giving Nile he was worshiped as the creator god and “Father of the Gods”. As god of fertility he was depicted as an androgyn, although being male, as seen in this relief with hanging female breasts and a large belly. The hand posture with the offering table is on numerous reliefs of Hapi, e.g., in the funerary temple of Sethos I on the western Nile bank in Abydos. Mounted.