For Immediate Release November 16, 2011 Contact: Erin McAndrew
[email protected] tel +1 212 636 2680 Melissa Abernathy
[email protected] tel +1 212 636 2680 EGYPTOMANIA GRIPS CHRISTIE’S NEW YORK RARE EGYPTIAN, GREEK AND ROMAN WORKS OF ART, PLUS NEOLITHIC NORDIC TOOLS AND ANCIENT JEWELRY ON OFFER AT CHRISTIE’S NEW YORK, DECEMBER 7 BLOCKBUSTER ANTIQUITIES SALE INCLUDES FIVE LOTS ESTIMATED AT OVER $1 MILLION EACH EGYPTIAN RED JASPER HEAD OF A PHARAOH New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII- XIX, circa 1473-1290 B.C. Estimate: $3,000,000-5,000,000 New York – Christie’s is pleased to announce an incredibly important sale of Antiquities on December 7, at 10 am, which will offer over 225 lots, led by several exceptional works of Ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman art, plus Near Eastern and European antiquities, along with some fine examples of Nordic Neolithic stone tools. The sale is expected to exceed $18 million. It will be followed by a sale of Ancient Jewelry at 2 pm. Both the auctions and their pre-sale viewings will take place in Christie’s Special Exhibition Galleries on the 20th floor. Leading the sale is an Egyptian Head of a Pharaoh in red jasper, one of the rarest and most beautiful Egyptian works of art to appear at auction in decades (pictured page one; estimate: $3,000,000-$5,000,000). Nearly 4 inches high, the superbly sculpted head was originally part of a composite statue in which the face, hands and feet were all carved from a bright red jasper, a material that was used only rarely for larger statuary.