CHICAGO – Early Egyptian artifacts, sculpture and Roman portrait heads led Hindman’s May 26 Antiquities & Ancient Art: A Study auction to $1,531,063, the highest total for an antiquities auction at the firm. Bidders from 22 countries and 33 states participated in the sale. An Egyptian gilt cartonnage mummy mask emerged as the top lot, selling for $175,000 against an estimate of $50,000-$60,000 and leading an incredibly strong selection of ancient Egyptian artifacts.

“Bidders came as far as Asia and as close as Lake Street in Chicago,” said Hindman’s Director and Specialist for Antiquities and Pre-Columbian Art Jacob Coley. “We are delighted to see how both new and established collectors are responding to the department’s offerings, and how all categories – Egyptian, Near Eastern, Jewelry and Greco-Roman – saw passionate bidding in the auction.”

Egyptian artifacts saw enthusiastic bidding, led by the aforementioned Egyptian gilt cartonnage mummy mask. Following the discovery of the intact tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings, Egyptomania became a phenomenon across Europe and the United States. The stylized facial features of the sarcophagus mask share similar traits with the mask of the Pharaoh, most notably the gold face, calcite eyes and lapis lazuli-colored inlays. Elaborately decorated with two images of Osiris, a winged scarab and hieroglyphic inscription, the iconic mummy mask is emblematic of our modern-day fascination with the land of the ancient pharaohs and Nile River.

Additional Egyptian standouts include a bronze cat that doubled its estimate to realize $125,000. Cast in bronze, the impressive and dignified-looking cat was depicted in a conventional seated position. In ancient Egypt, the cat personified Bastet, the goddess of fertility, pleasure and good health.

A premiere example of a faience female figure that has been displayed at the Cincinnati Art Museum and Brooklyn Museum of Art sold for $107,500 against an estimate of $70,000-$90,000. Highlights also included a limestone relief that realized $56,250, more than tripling its presale estimate, and an incredibly realistic alabaster head of a jackal, which sold for $43,750.

Objects from ancient Greco-Roman cultures were also among the outstanding performers, most notably Roman marble portrait heads. A marble portrait head of Antisthenes sold for $100,000, while a head of a ram climbed well past its $8,000-$12,000 estimate to achieve $34,375. Rams were important symbols of strength and virility in ancient Rome. Also, a portrait head resembling the Emperor Caracalla exceeded its estimate, selling for $25,000.

Cycladic sculptures also were extremely well received by bidders, such as two marble reclining female figures, which realized $81,250 and $31,250, respectively.

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