Code: 2523
Description: A restrung triple-stranded necklace of blue and grey faience beads, long tubular type, interspersed with blue, brown and grey faience beads of short circular type. The necklace also holds nine small blue faience amulets, mostly funerary in nature. These include a striding Anubis (repaired), a star (one point restored), a lion-headed aegis (possibly Sekhmet), Taweret, two Falcon amulets (one with the head missing, the other with the base lost) and a flat scarab beetle, all pierced for suspension. The amulets generally of degenerate type. Some beads chipped and corroded.
Size: The necklace measures 350 mm/13.8 ins. in length, amulets measure 9-19 mm/0.4-0.7 in. in length
Culture: Egyptian
Date: Third Intermediate Period - Late Period, c. 1070-300 B.C.
Provenance: From the collection of Julian Bird (1959-2014), the star amulet ex Terrence Eva collection, London, assembled in the 1970s-1980s, and acquired by Bird at Timeline Auctions Antiquities Sale, on 1 December 2011 as part of Lot 44.
Background: Julian Bird was a passionate collector of Egyptian antiquities, who built up a fine and extensive collection from the 1970s onwards. He sourced his items mainly from the UK market, from specialist dealers, fairs, markets and auctioneers. He was a model collector, carefully documenting his collection, and his notes on this particular item will be supplied to the buyer.
