A large Egyptian turquoise glazed composition amulet of Nefertum
Late Period, circa 664-332 B.C.
Nefertum depicted striding forward, his hands held to his sides, wearing a short, pleated, belted kilt, a striated tripartite wig fronted by a uraeus, a plaited false beard and a characteristic plumed lotus-form menat-flanked headdress, ridged suspension loop behind, 11.4cm high注脚Provenance:
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1988, lot 25.
Mr Jean Thomassen collection, Netherlands.
Private collection, Europe, acquired November 1996 from the above.

Published:
C.A.R. Andrews and J. van Dijk (ed.), Objects for Eternity: Egyptian Antiquities from the W. Arnold Meijer Collection, Mainz, 2006, p. 236-7, no. 3.50.

For similar, see W.M. Flinders Petrie, Amulets, London, 1914, pl. XLVI, no, 175b. Nefertum had a particularly close association with Lower Egypt, and alongside Ptah and Sekhmet formed the divine family of Memphis. In one creation myth, the god emerged from the sweetly-smelling blue lotus while it was floating on Nun, the primeval waters; one of the spells in the Book of the Dead hails Nefertum as 'He who is the pure lotus which springs from the nostrils of Re'.