This is the rating and price for Egyptian Magical Stela Or Cippus Of Horus, 1988

Description : Late 19th century AD or earlier. A Ptolemaic to Roman style bifacial black steatite cippus with strong attention to detail throughout, formed as an archway with nude Horus in raised relief, sidelock of youth and a neck ornament, standing on the heads of crocodiles and holding serpents, a scorpion, lion and oryx, the head of Bes above, opposed serpents wearing a sun disk below, hieroglyphs to the front face and side edges of the stela, with eight horizontal rows of hieroglyphs to the reverse and scene of a god battling a crocodile above, flanked by other animals and hieroglyphs, after the antique. See Seton-Williams, M. V., Egyptian Legends and Stories, 1988, Wilkinson, R. H., The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, 2003, and The Metropolitan Museum, accession number 20.2.23, for similar. 76 grams, 75mm (3). Property of a Dutch private collector, acquired 2004, previously in the collection of Jan Beekmans (1927-2008), Borken, Germany. The cippus of Horus was one of the most potent protective amulets in ancient Egypt, especially during the Late Period. It was closely associated with the great myth of Osiris and Isis. After Osiris had been murdered by his jealous brother Set to inherit his kingdom, Isis fled to the marshes of the delta for safety. She was pregnant with Osiris’s son Horus and the child was born in the delta. With her magic spells, Isis endeavoured to protect him from the dangerous animals in the delta, especially scorpions and snakes, but even this did not protect him from his evil uncle Set who had him poisoned by a scorpion and the child died. Isis appealed to Re, chief of the gods, for his help and he sent the god Thoth to recite incantations and restored Horus to life. As Horus grew up he became associated with the god Shed, 'the savior', who overcame noxious and dangerous animals and poisonous snakes. The cippus represents Horus in triumph overcoming crocodiles and grasping snakes and the inscriptions around are incantations against their evil. The representation on the stele was sufficient to repel them but if a person was afflicted or bitten by any of them water was poured over the stela and then drunk as a cure with appropriate incantations being said. Cippi are known in various sizes, the largest is the so-called Metternich Stele given to the Austrian Prince Metternich by Mohammed Ali ruler of Egypt in 1828. It had been found built into a wall in a Franciscan monastery and probably came from a temple in Alexandria where water would have been poured over it to provide a cure for supplicants (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ac. no.50.85, ht 33 inches, acquired in 1950). The cippus was probably a protective amulet in a house or possibly carried by a doctor or priest to produce a magical curative drink accompanied by the appropriate incantations to cure the patient. For this specific lot, 5% import VAT is applicable on the hammer price [No Reserve]
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