Egyptian healing block statue fragment, Late Dynastic Period, c. 4th century BC
Basalt
Dimensions: 13x14x8cm
11567 TA
Charles Ede, London
Further images
The fragment of a larger statue has been carved in high relief with a left hand resting on a curved surface carved with columns of hieroglyphic inscription. A fragment without...
The fragment of a larger statue has been carved in high relief with a left hand resting on a curved surface carved with columns of hieroglyphic inscription. A fragment without restoration. White lettering to one side, now indecipherable.
The present fragment is very likely to have been part of a healing/magical statue. Healing statues depict elite individuals, their bodies covered with magic spells carved into the surface. Most date to the Late Period, when magic came to occupy a greater place in temples and popular religion. They were inserted into pedestals carved with a basin at their front and were displayed in public, where they must have attracted crowds. To release the sculpture's magical powers, water was poured over the carved spells and images, allowing it to become imbued with healing properties. This water was then used as a medication by patients seeking to cure many different ailments.
The present fragment is very likely to have been part of a healing/magical statue. Healing statues depict elite individuals, their bodies covered with magic spells carved into the surface. Most date to the Late Period, when magic came to occupy a greater place in temples and popular religion. They were inserted into pedestals carved with a basin at their front and were displayed in public, where they must have attracted crowds. To release the sculpture's magical powers, water was poured over the carved spells and images, allowing it to become imbued with healing properties. This water was then used as a medication by patients seeking to cure many different ailments.
Provenance
Art market, Cairo, EgyptJean Yoyotte (1927-2009), Paris, France; likely acquired 1952-1956 when teaching in Cairo.
J.A. Patterson
Private collection, California, USA; acquired at the estate sale of the above in 2021
Several undated black and white photographs of the fragment were taken by French Egyptologist Serge Sauneron (1927-1976) when the object was on the Cairo antiquities market, and is marked as being in Yoyotte's collection. These photographs are now in the Bernard V Bothmer Corpus of Late Egyptian Sculpture, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA. Bothmer (1912-1993), a noted Egyptologist, was particularly known for his work on the Late Dynastic Period.
Serge Sauneron (1927-1976) was an Egyptologist and Director of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale from 1969 to 1976.
