An Egyptian Limestone Relief Depicting Butchers

Old Kingdom, 5th-6th Dynasty, 2465-2150 B.C.

Width 26 inches (66 cm).

Property from the Collection of Dr. David Girgenti, Rockford, Illinois

This lot is located in Chicago.

Provenance:

Harold and Mary Moore, New Jersey; thence by descent to Dr. Harold F. Moore (1947-2015), New York.

Acquired by the present owner from the above in 1983.

To the uninitiated, Egyptian art may seem both hieratic and static. However, an orderly and gradual evolution is discernable in the artistic achievements of this culture. The most copied style of ancient Egyptian art comes from the Old Kingdom. Much the way Europe looked to the art of ancient Greece as the embodiment of the ideal, so too did later dynasties look to the 'Age of the Pyramid Builders' for inspiration and convention.

This limestone relief from the Old Kingdom was once colorfully painted and adorned the walls of a nobleman's tomb. The two hieroglyphic captions at the top can be understood individually as: "tying up a young oryx (antelope)" and "butchering meat" or together as "bind the antelope for a choice cut". The butchery scene is clearly carved according to fixed conventions. Each figure is in the typical "frontality" style with their heads forward facing and all set in an exact median line. Slightly unusual is the figure of the man in the center, who holds the antelope's leg, in true profile. The slight difference in tradition could be explained by the hand of a provincial artist working during the early part of the 6th Dynasty. This period saw the weakening of central government in favor of provincial lords which would eventually break up the kingdom and leave Egypt to anarchy.

Intact as preserved. Overall surface wear as is typical of age; chips, pitting, and abrasions with minor encrustations or earthen deposits throughout. Minor areas of surface loss or gashes. The exterior edges around the border are uneven and rough, with some areas smoothed and rounded with age. The back of the relief has abrasions and weathering. Overall in attractive and stable condition.

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Jacob Coley

Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Antiquities and Ancient Art

[email protected]312 280 1212

Mr. Coley joined the Antiquities department in 2021 after working as Managing Director in the Ancient Art department at Colnaghi, the world’s oldest commercial art gallery, where he helped to establish the Ancient Art department and launched Colnaghi New York in 2017. Prior to Colnaghi, Mr. Coley was in the Greek and Roman Art department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Coley holds a B.A. from the University of Miami and an M.A. in Art Market from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and he earned an art-appraisal certificate from New York University.

Ancient Art & Natural History: A Cabinet of Curiosities

An Egyptian Limestone Relief Depicting Butchers

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