Lot 148A

Egyptian Steatite & Faience Scarab Beads - Group of Three

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Lot 148
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Egyptian Steatite & Faience Scarab Beads - Group of Three
Egyptian Steatite & Faience Scarab Beads - Group of Three
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Egyptian Steatite & Faience Scarab Beads - Group of Three

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $300

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
August 6, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

North Africa, Egypt, late Middle Kingdom and Late Dynastic period, ca. 1850–664 BCE. A trio of scarab beads carved in the ancient Egyptian idiom, each a beetle-backed talisman meant to be strung and worn. The largest, of pale faience, bears on its flat underside an incised quadruped striding beside a palm, a motif favored in the Late Dynastic period. The two smaller examples, cut from steatite, belong to the late Middle Kingdom tradition: their bellies carry symmetric compositions of protective signs and running scroll borders, one showing the nefer hieroglyph, "good" and "beautiful," amid decorative volutes. The dorsal sides render the sacred dung beetle, Khepri, emblem of the rising sun and of self-renewal. Pierced longitudinally, all three functioned equally as seals, amulets, and jewelry, small guarantors of regeneration worn against the living body and carried into the tomb. Size of largest (quadruped): 0.5" W x 0.37" H x 0.68" D (1.3 cm W x 0.9 cm H x 1.7 cm D).

The scarab took its power from Khepri, the beetle god whose name derives from the verb kheper, "to come into being." Egyptians observed the dung beetle rolling its ball across the ground and read in it a cosmic metaphor: the sun pushed daily across the sky, life emerging spontaneously from matter. Worn in life and buried with the dead, scarabs promised perpetual renewal.

The late Middle Kingdom (late Dynasty 12 through Dynasty 13, ca. 1850 to 1640 BCE) produced the great flowering of the design scarab, whose undersides favored balanced arrangements of protective hieroglyphs and interlaced scrolls rather than royal names, the two steatite examples here belonging squarely to that class.

Provenance: private Marysville, Washington, USA collection; ex-private Seattle, Washington, USA collection, acquired 1970 to 2000 via US and online auctions

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Item # 204070

  • Condition: All have surface wear with minor nicks and some abrasions. Otherwise, all three are wearable, intact, and in very good condition. Largest has liberal remaining detail, while steatite scarabs are impressively preserved with excellent detail.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000