E53

Amarna white glass Tauret amulet

£300

A rare semi-opaque white glass amulet in the form of a stylised standing figure of the goddess Tauret.

Tauret was depicted with an anthropomorphic pregnant body, the head of a hippopotamus and the tail of a crocodile.

A very deliberate vertical hollow line is visible inside the figure, it seems likely that this was filled or linked in some way with the pregnant belly.

Though Tauret appears to have been a popular god at Amarna, glass amulets of this type and size are very scarce.

Egypt, Dynasty XVIII, Tell el-Amarna, mid 14th Century BC

Small chip from the tip of the tail, otherwise intact. A small typically fine Amarna yellow faience bead is embedded inside the suspension loop indicating that this figure had been mounted on a necklace.

Size: 3 x 1.2 cms

Ex. collection: Henry Wallis RWS, 1830-1916.

Wallis is probably best known as an artist of the Pre-Raphaelite movement who exhibited "The death of Chatterton" to much acclaim at the Royal Academy in 1856. He worked with and enjoyed the friendship of several of the great painters of the late 19th Century including Rossetti, Alma-Tadema and Burne-Jones.

In later life Wallis became a noted scholar and collector of antiquities. He published twenty works on Egyptian, Classical, Medieval and Islamic art, including the book "Egyptian Ceramics" in 1900. His collection now forms part of the permanent displays of several important museums including the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Wallis travelled widely in the Mediterranean, and visited Egypt on several trips where he met with the legendary Flinders-Petrie at a fascinating point in the archaeological history of the country. This allowed him to acquire antiquities from rarefied and recently discovered sites such as Tell el-Amarna and Tuna el-Gebel.

"vessels of all kinds, figures of the gods, elegant objects of personal adornment, and all the trappings and paraphernalia of the mummy" Henry Wallis, commenting on discoveries at Tuna el-Gebel in the 1890's.

This object forms part of an extensive group of antiquities from this unique Victorian collection which we are delighted to offer for sale for the first time in nearly 100 years.