Egyptian-Ptolemaic Sculptor’s Trial Piece, ca. 200 B.C.E.
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GUEST:
It was in the possession of my parents. And when my father died and then when my mother died, we were splitting up the contents of the house
amongst us, and I showed interest in the head, and then one of my siblings came up and said, "Oh, here's this letter that goes with the head," and I didn't even read the letter until I submitted it, um, to the ROADSHOW.
APPRAISER:
Okay.
GUEST:
I just knew, "Oh, I better keep this with the head, because it's probably important."
APPRAISER:
All right. It's titled "Farah the Beautiful." "This marvelous piece of sculpture, evidently a portrait head of the great emperor of Egypt Ikhnaton, the earliest monotheist, who reigned about 1300 B.C., is equal to some of the best work of Phidias, the famous Greek sculptor who came many centuries later. The material is a warm-colored limestone resembling marble, and the beauty of expression and delicacy of the treatment have never been excelled by any
sculptor of any age." This is signed by a Mr. Parker, a fellow of the Royal Society of London, and came from Los Angeles on December the 15th, 1927. The piece is not that early.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
Okay? Ikhnaton was 18th Dynasty, which is about 1,000 years earlier. This is absolutely typical of an early period of Ptolemaic art. It's made from indurated limestone, and indurated limestone is very fine, and it doesn't crumble. And so it was really a preferred material to make the sculpture out of. The Ptolemaic Dynasty goes from about 305 to 30 B.C. It ends with Cleopatra being beaten by the Romans. And you see the Ptolemaic work here. It's shown by these almond eyes and very finely defined outlines. You've got a, sort of a triangular nose
and a rounded chin. You also get this sort of attention to detail on the sides here. It's all very finely done. Now, there aren't any obvious things on it to say who it was. It's definitely not of a king. There would be a uraeus on the front, which is the, um, uh, the cobra like that.
GUEST:
Okay.
APPRAISER:
And I think it's probably what they called a trial piece. Now, a sculptor would do these and then present them to a potential client to show how good he was at doing details. And they tend to be sort of half-life-size, but always fine quality. As with all things, condition is important. And even though this is 2,000 years old, they do come perfect sometimes.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
But I think a conservative retail price for this would be in the region of about $20,000 to $22,000.
GUEST:
Okay. (chuckling)
APPRAISER:
I think it's really good.
GUEST:
Excellent. Well, thank you so much.
APPRAISER:
Oh, you're quite...
GUEST:
It's been a, a joy.
APPRAISER:
No, the pleasure is mine. It's all right.
GUEST:
It's been a joy to hear about it.
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