Bronze Statuette of Bes

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 B.C.

Material: Bronze, silver

Dimensions: 7.4 cm high; 14.4 cm high including base

Price: 12 000 Euro

Ref: 1626

Provenance: From an old French private collection. Auctioned at the estate auction at Drouot on 15 March 2024. Thereafter in the Spanish art trade. With Spanish export licence.

Condition: Intact

Description: Important and exceptionally finely crafted bronze statuette of the dwarf god Bes. The protector against the dangerous desert animals wears a lion skin over his head and shoulders in this highly detailed statuette. The animal's paws fall over the chest at the front and rest at the sides of the buttocks at the back. The lion’s head hangs down between the front legs. As the wild “protector” of the household, pregnant women, and newborns, Bes borrows from the predator’s skin the lion's fearsome power, ferocity, and resilience to keep demons, evil spirits and misfortune away from people. His oversized head with its grotesque features, shaggy full beard, bulbous nose, and protruding tongue, is equally intimidating. The deep-set eyes are inlaid with silver and stare fixedly at the viewer. The body of the dwarf god, unclothed apart from the lion skin, is powerfully built. The long arms hang down at his sides, with the hands resting on his thighs. The missing feet and the flat headdress indicate that the statuette served as an intermediate fitting, probably as the handle of a masterfully crafted sistrum. See for the depictions of Bes wearing a lion skin, the statuette in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, with inventory number Cat. 599. Mounted on an old wooden base.