Provenance:

Private Collection, Texas, late 1970s-early 1980s.

Sotheby’s, New York, Antiquities and Islamic Works of Art, 21 November 1985, Lot 138.

Private Collection, New York, 1985-2014.

Ariadne Galleries, New York and London, 2015 (Anonymous, pp. 16-17, no. 7).

This substantial bronze depicts a falcon in a compact, upright stance, its feet set wide and its wings drawn close against a sweeping tail. The casting is hollow and of considerable quality, the walls even and well-controlled. Across the breast, wings, and flanks, the plumage is articulated in neat incised rows, each quill precisely differentiated from its neighbor, conferring a richness of surface that the patina now enhances rather than obscures. The face is alert and sharply observed: a pronounced supraorbital ridge throws the eyes into relief, their rounded forms enclosed by well-defined lids that terminate in fine canthi; below, the long facial stripe distinctive to the peregrine falcon is set back into the metal, and the culmen descends in a decisive hook. A rectangular void cut into the base of the figure identifies it as a falcon coffin, designed to receive a mummified bird in its interior, the opening once closed with a plaster seal. At 27 cm in height this is an ambitious work, among the larger examples of its class.

The religious significance of the falcon in ancient Egypt was rooted in its association with Horus, one of the oldest and most theologically complex gods in the Egyptian pantheon. Lord of the sky and divine model of kingship, Horus was worshipped across Egypt in numerous local forms throughout the Pharaonic and Late periods, and the bronze falcon coffin was one of the primary vehicles through which that worship found material expression. Sacred falcons were raised within temple precincts, mummified upon their deaths, and interred within bronze casings such as the present example, which were then dedicated at sanctuaries as votive offerings. This practice expanded dramatically during the Late Period as animal cults became a central feature of Egyptian religious life, attracting pilgrims from across the country who sought the intercession of the god through the offering of his sacred animal. The size and accomplished workmanship of the present bronze suggest it was a dedication of some consequence. For related examples see P. Jett, S. Sturman and T.D. Weisser, "A Study of the Egyptian Bronze Falcon Figures in The Walters Art Gallery," Studies in Conservation, vol. 30, no. 3 (1985); and R.S. Bianchi et al., Egyptian Bronzes, Fondation Gandur Pour L'Art, p. 222.