An Egyptian Amarna carolina blue faience Bes pendant, c. 1330 B.C.

An Egyptian Amarna carolina blue faience Bes pendant, c. 1330 B.C.

Code: 1757

SOLD
Description: A carolina blue flat-backed faience pendant of Bes, facing forwards with hands on knees. A loop coloured grey, perhaps to imitate silver, on the top of the head for suspension, although this is now partially broken. The modelling cursory as is typical of the type and some cracking of the surface, but sound.

Size: 16 mm/0.6 in. high

Culture: Egyptian

Date: New Kingdom, 18th Dynasty, Amarna Period, c. 1353-1323 B.C.

Provenance: Ex Horatio and Patsy Melas Collection, Alexandria, Egypt, acquired before 1967. Thence by descent, moved to Switzerland (1967-1989) and then London (1989-present).

Background: The Horatio & Patsy Melas Collection was formed in Alexandria, Egypt, during the first half of the 20th Century. Horatio Melas came from a family of Greek merchants who moved to Alexandria in 1904. There he met his wife Patsy and they married in 1960. In 1967 the family relocated to Switzerland, taking the collection with them. There it remained until 1989, when their son Kyros Melas moved to London. Kyros worked in the City as a Private Equities trader and continued to curate the collection, occasionally adding to it until the late 1990s.

Notes: These pendants would have been worn on decorative bead collars.