Late period Egyptian sarcophagus estimated to make $100,000 on June 13

A life-size Ancient Egyptian sarcophagus dating to the late period (circa 712-332 BC) is estimated to make $75,000-100,000 in an online sale at Artemis Gallery.

The lot will cross the block at the Antiquities, Pre-Columbian and Ethnographic Art sale on June 13.

It's painted with the traditional symbols of the Egyptian underworld, including the four sons of Ra and the sinister Jackal-headed Anubis.

Ancient Egyptian sarcophagus
The sarcophagus dates to the late period of ancient Egypt

The hieroglyphics are the standard model text used in burial rites, but they appear to contain a mistake. Artemis comment: "To indicate where the name of the future owner should be written on the objects, the model text would sometimes also contain empty spaces.

"But there are also cases where the model text used another method, namely witing the word "men" instead of the owner.

"'Men' means 'so-and-so', it was an indication that the artist who was copying the text should replace the word 'men' by the name of the buyer.

"But sometimes the artist did not realise this, and without thinking copied the word 'men' as if it were part of the text."

The head of a mummy that dates to the era of the new kingdom (around 1570-1075 BC) will provide another highlight with an estimate of $30,000-40,000.

You can check out our extraordinary collection of antiques here.

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