**First Time At Auction**

Ancient Egypt, late New Kingdom to Third Intermediate Period, 19th to 25th Dynasty, ca. 1200 to 700 BCE. A hand-built faience stamp seal of an ovoid form with a perforated handle arching across the top. On either end of the topside handle is an incised depiction of a fly meant to serve as a protective ward and a symbol of persistence. The base features 3 impressed hieroglyphs: a sun disc, a standing depiction of Ra - the falcon-headed god of the sun - and a reed leaf. The entire composition is covered in pale blue glaze that adds to its attractive presentation. Size: 1.1" L x 0.625" W (2.8 cm x 1.6 cm)

According to scholar Dorothea Arnold, "The ancient Egyptians…seemed to have held flies in high esteem, presumably because of this insect's powers of fast reaction and indomitable, insistent presence…[though] earlier fly amulets may have also served to ward off these annoying insects." (Arnold, Dorothea. "An Egyptian Bestiary." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Spring 1995, Vol. LII, no. 4, p. 48)

Provenance: private Toronto, Ontario, Canada collection, by descent, acquired in Egypt in 1894 to 1896

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#167125

Minor nicks to peripheries of topside, otherwise intact and very good. Great preservation to fly motifs, hieroglyphs, and glaze color.