PARIS.- On Wednesday, December 16, 2015, the Archeology auction of Pierre Bergé & associés will bring together 267 pieces from the Orient, Egypt and Greco-Roman art to Drouot, including books, jewels and statues.

The sale will see several very important pieces up for auction, such as a bronze of Mercury holding Bacchus or “Hermes and the Infant Dionysus” (1st-2nd centuries),

It will also present the monumental chest of an ensign-bearing statue, attributed by experts to Ramses II.

The chest of this unusually sized granodiorite statue dates back to the reign of Ramses II, between 1279 and 1213 B.C.E.

It represents the towering body of the king, from the front, whose precisely designed anatomy is emphasized by highly defined collarbones and a style expressing the notion of power.

The rectangular section of an ensign engraved with a hieroglyphic column appears in front of his left arm and reads: “[...] PtahTatenen, O my son born from my side who I love, the King of Upper and Lower Egypt User-Maat-Re [...]”.

“This is an exceptional piece for its monumental dimensions and historic character. It is of royal origin and likely comes from the temple of Memphis. To this day, no other ensign-bearing statue of this type exists on the market; they are only present in public institutions – for example, certain collection pieces exhibited at the British Museum and the Louvre,” explains Christophe Kunicki, the sale’s expert.

Ensign-bearers appear in Egyptian bas-relief and ronde-bosse depictions throughout the 18th dynasty. The earliest evidence of a work of this nature dates back to the reign of Thutmose IV. It was during the 19th dynasty that ensign-bearing statues gained importance, becoming widespread under Ramses II (1279-1213 B.C.E.). The works in this category depict a king or an individual, holding one or two divine emblems against his body.

Formerly known as “sacred stakes”, these ensigns can be distinguished from those of ancient Egyptian nomes or military standard bearers. They consist of a long shaft supporting a wide aegis collar, itself topped by the head of a human or animal deity. The shaft attached to this statuary group here depicts a composition engraved with the royal titular, the name of the king of Upper and Lower Egypt (ny-sw.t bjty) as well as a canonical expression addressed to the god Ptah-Tatenen.

This god of Memphis, whose name means “the land that rises,” embodies the starting point of all creation by the demiurge.

Appearing in funerary texts from the Middle Kingdom, it gained importance in the New Kingdom by partnering with the figure of Ptah.

It then merged with him in the era of Ramses, in turn becoming the demiurge under the name Ptah-Tatenen. This name came from the image of a god bearing two serpents on its head, one behind the other, which gave way to two conjoined ostrich feathers capping its crown.

Exhibited in sanctuaries or carried by priests during certain processions, these “sacred stakes” were created in precious wood and often plated with gold and adorned with ribbons. The shafts, in their role as a support for the ensigns depicting the principal deities of the Egyptian pantheon, were also considered sacred. Veritable manifestations of an aspect of divine power, they ensured its active presence.

Among the principal divine figures, the presence of an aegis representation of a human head, with the same characteristics as those of the king, can be noted. Its role therefore appears to be different than that of other ensigns.

Associated with the worship of the royal ka, as well as that of other divinities comprising the body of the procession, ensign-bearing statues depicting the king were representations intended to highlight the importance of rituals.

The New Kingdom was a period during which the official religion seemed to undergo a shift, marking its theological essence. Scenes emphasizing the role of the royal ka were added to those showcasing the king in his capacity as officiant. This was why the ensign of the king’s ka was presented for veneration by the faithful in the same way as other divine ensigns.

Valued by private individuals in their depictions of ensign-bearers, the royal ka progressively became a way for the Ramassides to spread the royal image to remote parts of their territory, where the sovereign’s physical presence was rare. This fervent devotion to the royal ka under the form of the ensign can be explained by the fact that the object was one of the few elements of worship released from the temple’s sanctuary in honor of celebrations and processions of divine barques.

The importance of these ensign-bearer depictions of the king gave way to an institutionalism of mdw-sps worship over a long period, while the ensign-bearer statue type would disappear with the end of the New Kingdom.

“The aesthetic qualities of the chest, its magnificence and its grandiloquence, attest to its royal character. In this way, its monumental proportions underline its use as an object of propaganda to celebrate the all-powerful Ramses II,” explains Christophe Kunicki.