LARGE EGG-HEAD Egypt, Late Period, 4th century... Lot 6

LARGE EGG-HEAD Egypt, Late Period, 4th century BC Basalt H_ 24 cm Provenance Former French collection from the 1950s Ex Artcurial sale of 24/06/2008 Paris, private collection Exhibition Twilight of the Pharaohs, masterpieces of the last dynasties Musée Jacquemart André, 23 March to 23 July 2012 Publication Catalogue of the exhibition Twilight of the Pharaohs, edited by Olivier Perdu, p. 88, n°29 AN IMPORTANT EGYPTIAN BASALT EGG-HEAD, 4TH CENTURY B.C. 9,5 in. High. The subject is an entirely bald, young man with smooth skin and smiling eyes. The man has an oval face, a gently sloping forehead that curves smoothly into a high dome of the cranium and a large projecting occiput. The head is broadest at the dome of the cranium, narrowing toward the rounded chin so that its contour in frontal view has the shape of an egg. The lips are full and the smile is almost enigmatic. The almond-shaped eyes are subtly overligned suggesting kohl ligns. The triangle-shaped nose is thin and straight, broader at the end suggested by large nostrils. The ears are finely sculpted suggesting a realistic anatomy. Starting at the occiput a back pillar. Neck fractures suggest an a posteriori action to adapt the head to a base. The original 50's base being a large square block of marble has been changed since. Bothmer suggested that the idealized group of the egg-head type was an allusion through the infantile proportions, to rejuvenation and rebirth. The head presents a completely shaven juvenile male face whose ovoid skull shape is exaggeratedly stretched with perfectly regular contours, without revealing the bumps and hollows observable in reality. However, a subtle concave depression can be seen here at the temples and cheeks, suggesting a larger surface area at the forehead and skull, and a narrowing at the chin, which is rounded. The lips are full and show an almost enigmatic smile. The eyes are large and almond-shaped, and the contours are finely outlined by a thin bulge stretching to the outer corner of the eye - thus marking a kohl (?) line. The ears are sculpted in detail and partially visible in frontal view. This type, known as egg-head in relation to the particular shape of the skull, appeared during the First Persian Domination and spread during the last indigenous dynasties and at the beginning of the Ptolemaic period(1). According to R.S. Bianchi and S.Wood, it influenced the development of the Roman republican portrait(2). The examples that still have traces of inscriptions of inscriptions indicate that they were officials or clergymen - which classifies them as Ptolemaic administrators(3). Despite the generalized appearance induced by the idealization of physiognomic features, the high quality of execution makes it a work of great beauty. The polishing of the stone rendered by the shine of the surface accentuates this idea of ideal beauty. 1 O.Perdu, Twilight of the Pharaohs, 27-32, Eggheads set, Jacquemart-André Museum exhibition 2 R.S.Bianchi, The Egg-Heads: One Type of Generic Portrait from the Egyptian Late Period and S.Wood in JARCE vol.24, Isis, Eggheads and Roman Portraiture, 1987, pp.123-141. About the second group of the egg-heads type with more marked features. 3 R.S.Bianchi, ibid, p. 150