**First Time At Auction**

Egypt, Late Dynastic to Ptolemaic period, ca. 664 to 30 BCE. A petite bead depicting a pair of Ba birds standing abreast, hand-carved from a chalky-white steatite. Each bird represents a human-headed falcon with folded wings, slender, delineated legs, and large headdresses. The Ba was imaginatively portrayed as a human-headed bird whose duty was to reunite the soul with the body. The Ba bird was often shown hovering over the deceased's mummy or leaving or entering the tomb at will. Biconically drilled through the neck, this bead may have been strung onto a necklace adorning a mummy. Size: 0.4" W x 0.65" H (1 cm x 1.7 cm).

Provenance: private Los Angeles County, California, USA collection; ex-private Los Angeles, California, USA, acquired in 1945

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#134815

Surface wear and minor abrasions commensurate with age, small nicks to faces, headdresses, and base, with fading to some carved details, otherwise intact and very good. Light earthen deposits throughout.