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Egypt, c. 1550-1300 BC. Finely carved from dark serpentine as a baboon embracing a cylindrical kohl pot, the animal standing with bent legs and long arms clasping the vessel, the hands with individually incised fingers. The head is finely detailed with a projecting muzzle and striated hair. The pot retains its separately carved circular lid. The stone of a deep, dark tone, with attractive wear to the projecting areas from extensive handling. (2)
Art Loss Register: Certificate from 13 November 2000. A copy of the certification document accompanies the lot.
Provenance: With Sycomore Ancient Art, Switzerland, at an unspecified date, as documented by an archived screenshot of the gallery’s website showing the present figure in the section devoted to the history of the gallery. Reportedly Dorotheum, Vienna, 28 September 1998, lot 58 (neither the auction catalogue nor confirmation of the sale could be obtained from Dorotheum). The private collection of Monsieur Jean-Louis Domercq, Geneva, Switzerland, by repute acquired from the above. A copy of a notarized attestation issued by Ma?tre Etienne A. Jeandin, Geneva, dated 11 December 2003, confirming the presence of the present object at Domercq’s private residence in Geneva, accompanies this lot. Jean-Louis Domercq is a French antiquities dealer and collector who founded Galerie du Sycomore on the rue des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1971. In 1993, the gallery relocated to Geneva as Sycomore Ancient Art and is today based in Zug, Switzerland. Over more than five decades, Domercq established himself as a specialist in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquities. Works handled by Sycomore have entered major international private and institutional collections, and the gallery has participated in leading international art fairs, including TEFAF Maastricht and Frieze Masters.
Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Expected wear, minor scratches, small abrasions to the bottom, signs of burial. The stone with beautifully softened high points and a deep, lustrous dark tone from extensive handling. Remarkably complete with the separately carved lid still preserved.
Weight: 102 g
Dimensions: Height 5.2 cm
Cosmetic vessels combining monkeys with kohl containers form a particularly charming group within the luxury arts of New Kingdom Egypt. Kohl, most commonly a dark cosmetic made from galena during the New Kingdom, was stored in small containers and applied with slender sticks. Monkeys frequently appear on such vessels, transforming an otherwise simple utilitarian object into an intimate piece of sculpture. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that representations of monkeys were particularly popular in the decoration of cosmetic vessels and preserves a closely related early Dynasty 18 type in which the animal clasps the cylindrical kohl tube with both hands (see a literature comparison).
The present vessel is distinguished by the exceptional refinement with which the animal has been integrated into the simple cylindrical form. The elongated arms follow the wall of the vessel, while the individually rendered fingers, carefully modeled muzzle, and incised hair give remarkable character to a sculpture barely five centimeters high. Particularly appealing is the extensive smooth wear to the projecting surfaces, which lends the dark serpentine a soft, almost glossy appearance while leaving the finer details clearly legible. The survival of the closely fitting lid further enhances the remarkable completeness of this diminutive luxury object.
Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related kohl tube in the form of a monkey holding a vessel, glazed steatite, dated to early Dynasty 18, 6 cm high, formerly in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1989.281.101. Compare a related diorite kohl pot with a monkey holding a covered vessel, 7.5 cm high, excavated at El-Kab and now in the Penn Museum, object number E2383A.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 11 June 2010, lot 13
Price: USD 37,500 or approx. EUR 50,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian black serpentine figure of a baboon, 18th/26th Dynasty, 1540-525 BC, 10.5 cm high.
Expert remark: Compare the identical black serpentine medium, baboon subject, finely incised details, and similarly smooth dark surface. Note the considerably larger size (10.5 cm) and different function as a freestanding figure.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Arte Primitivo, New York, 26-28 May 2020, lot 411
Mid-Estimate: USD 20,500 or approx. EUR 23,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An Egyptian black steatite kohl vessel with baboons, New Kingdom, 19th-20th Dynasty, 1320-1085 BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related dark stone medium, cylindrical kohl vessel, baboon decoration, New Kingdom dating, and similarly diminutive scale. Note the slightly larger size (7.6 cm), and the presence of two baboons rather than a single figure embracing the vessel.
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