Bronze Statuette of Min

Culture: Egyptian

Period: Late period, 664-332 B.C.

Material: Bronze

Dimensions: 10.6 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 1425

Provenance: Collection Gustav Schütz, Vienna, Austria. Acquired between 1920 and 1935. Thence continued to be in the family estate. With a handwritten provenance certificate of the heiress.

Condition: Flagellum, feather crown, false beard and silver inlays of the eyes missing. The tip of the phallus knocked off. Right arm professionally reattached. The legs about knee-level broken. Overall nevertheless a statuette of beautiful expression.

Description: Only preserved as a fragment, but yet an expressive bronze statuette of the ithyphallic fertility god Min. Min wears a lavish, multilayer necklace, which is in the front and on the back of the same opulence. From the lower end of the necklace runs a vertical decoration band along his back. With his left hand he holds his erected private part, the right arm is raised and bent, Min holds in his hand a flagellum as a symbol of potency. The deeply pierced eyes once held silver inlays. On the head sits a crown with a deep perforation, once with a high pair of feathers, which is also missing. The figure was once of special quality, all attributes were possibly worked out separately. Due to its explicit depiction Min statuettes particularly often fell victim to Early Christian devastation. This also happened to this statuette, where the damages go back to ancient times. See for the type the statuette in the Louvre Museum Paris with the inventory number E 4073. Mounted.