Lot 32
32
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE ATUM IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN-HEADED SERPENT
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE ATUM IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN-HEADED SERPENT
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE ATUM IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN-HEADED SERPENT
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE ATUM IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN-HEADED SERPENT
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THE DEVOTED CLASSICIST: THE PRIVATE COLLECTION OF A NEW YORK ANTIQUARIAN
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE ATUM IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN-HEADED SERPENT

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD TO LATE PERIOD, 25TH-26TH DYNASTY, 747-525 B.C.

Details
AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE ATUM IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN-HEADED SERPENT
THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD TO LATE PERIOD, 25TH-26TH DYNASTY, 747-525 B.C.
5 5/8 in. (14.2 cm.) high
Provenance
Christos G. Bastis (1904-1999), New York, acquired by 1976.
Antiquities from the Collection of the late Christos G. Bastis, Sotheby’s, New York, 9 December 1999, lot 9.
Private Collection, New York, acquired from the above.
Property from a New York Private Collection; Ancient Sculpture & Works of Art, Sotheby’s, London, 3 July 2018, lot 62.
Acquired by the current owner from the above.
Literature
D. von Bothmer, et al., Antiquities from the Collection of Christos G. Bastis, Mainz am Rhein, 1987, pp. 47-48, no. 16.
Exhibited
The Brooklyn Museum, 1976-1999 (Loan no. L76.36.4).
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Antiquities from the Christos G. Bastis Collection, 20 November 1987-10 January 1988.

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Hannah Fox Solomon
Hannah Fox Solomon Head of Department, Specialist
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Lot Essay

Deriving from an elaborate bronze coffin intended to contain a mummified snake or eel, this fragment preserves the figure of the creator god Atum in the form of a rearing cobra with the head of a bearded human, and wearing the plumed atef-crown with ram’s horns. The upright hood of the cobra is supported by a slanted form of the ma’at feather, indicating justice or right action. Well-preserved examples of bronze coffins for mummified votive serpents are topped with similar representations of Atum in snake form, often with an extended box to accommodate the full length of the mummified serpent (see the example in The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, no. 196 in S. D'Auria, et al., Mummies & Magic: The Funerary Arts of Ancient Egypt). Serpents were especially evocative of the primeaval waters of Nun, the source of creation of the world by Atum.

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