Description: A very fine bronze leg from a large composite ibis figure with integral tang for insertion in a base. The leg with fine incised decoration portraying skin texture, with dark green patina and no corrosion or damage to the bronze.
Size: 119 mm/4.7 ins. high
Culture: Egyptian
Date: Late Period, c. 664-30 B.C.
Provenance: From the collection of Olga and Vincent Diniacopoulos, Montreal, formed between 1910-1954.
Background: Olga (1906-2000) and Vincent Diniacopoulos (1886-1967) were remarkable husband and wife collectors who built up an extensive and truly remarkable collection of antiquities that filled their Montreal home. The existence of this fabulous collection was kept secret for decades, only in 1998 when Olga realised that she was nearing the end of her life, was the existence of the collection revealed to close friends. Their love of antiquity was so great that even cookie jars in the kitchen were full of Roman coins and at least on one occasion Olga paid Vincent’s medical bills using 2,500-year-old silver tetradrachms. Much of the collection was dispersed at auction, some was bought by the Quebec Government, a large number of pieces are housed at Concordia University, Montreal, others are on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Many of the Egyptian objects in their collection were acquired in Egypt during the 1920s-1930s, with several originating from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo when it sold surplus pieces.
Notes: This would have originally been part of a large high quality composite ibis figure, most likely with a wooden body and bronze head.
A wonderful opportunity to acquire an object from a most remarkable collection.
Picture of composite ibis figure (in this case an ibis sarcophagus) in Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Germany, photograph: Einsamer Schütze.
