Lot of 2 Egyptian Glass Figural Fragments - Bust & Legs

Egypt, Ptolemaic to early Romano-Egyptian period, ca. 332 BCE to first half of 1st century CE. A beautiful set of two fragments from mold-cast, opaque glass figures bearing intricate millefiori decorations. The first fragment is a portrait bust depicting Osiris, the god of the dead, holding a pair of flagellums crossed atop the chest. Osiris wears a segmented necklace above a millefiori chest pattern, and atop his minimalist countenance is an Atef crown with a central sun disc, a pair of ostrich feathers, and vertical red-and-white stripes. The largest fragment exhibits a pair of striding legs covered by the bottom of a pleated skirt, with a central brown panel draped vertically down the center, and thin stripes adorning the one remaining leg. Intricate glass inlays like these examples were meant to adorn recessed areas in wooden coffins and limestone reliefs, and figural examples perhaps depicted individuals of great importance like priests, pharaohs, or gods like Osiris shown here. Size of largest (legs): 1.875" W x 2.6" H (4.8 cm x 6.6 cm)

For a few good examples of glass inlays from the same time period, please see: Stern, E. Marianne and Birgit Schlick-Nolte. "Early Glass of the Ancient World: 1600 B.C. - A.D. 50 | Ernesto Wolf Collection." Verlag Gerd Hatje, Germany, 1994, pp. 358-364, figs. 115-118.

Provenance: ex-Dr. Sid Port collection, California, USA, acquired in the 1970s; ex-Norman Blankman collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 1950s in Cairo, Egypt

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#153328
Condition Report: Both items are fragments of larger figures and have been professionally cleaned and conserved. Loss to one lower leg as shown; remaining leg reattached with small chips and adhesive residue along break lines. Both items have abrasions and nicks to faces, peripheries, and versos, with softening to some finer details, darkening and yellowing to some areas of original color, and very light encrustations. Light earthen deposits throughout.