Monumental Alabaster Canopic Jar with the Head of Qebehsenuef

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Late period, 664-332 B.C.

Material: Alabaster

Dimensions: 42 cm high

Price: 48 000 Euro

Ref: 1453

Provenance: Aladdin House Ltd., New York prior to 1966. With an old exhibition photo. There acquired by Dr. Bruce L. Ralston on 10 June 1966. With a copy of the invoice. Thence with Sotheby's New York on 12 and 13 December 1991, lot 318. Last in the English art market.

Condition: Except for minor chipping on the rim of the lid and on the base intact. The stone with a wonderful texture.

Description: Exceedingly large canopic jar with a slender, slightly ovoid corpus and flat base. The elegant jar is made of alabaster with a wonderful texture. The lid depicts the falcon headed son of Horus Qebehsenuef, the protector of the intestines. The head of the falcon is sculpturally worked out, the feathers around the pointy beak and the vigilant eyes are finely executed. Qebehsenuef wears a massive wig with two broad lobes cascade in the front. Since the Middle Kingdom the internal organs were under the protection of the four sons of Horus, the tutelary gods of the canopic jars. Duamutef, the jackal, protected the stomach, Hapy, the baboon, the lung, Imsety with the human head the liver and the falcon headed Qebehsenuef the intestines. An impressive, heavy canopic jar. With an old Sotheby’s label.