ANCIENT EGYPT: THE SEVEN HATHOR’S DANCE NECKLACE Start Price USD 769.00 Current Price USD 769.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Saturday, November 15, 2008 End Time Monday, December 15, 2008 Location Rio de Janeiro See more about 'ANCIENT EGYPT: THE SEVEN HATHOR’S DANCE NECKLACE ' Description Item # 57   Name of the Item EXCEPTIONAL ANCIENT EGYPTIAN NECKLACE: THE SEVEN HATHOR’S DANCE COLLAR Provenance Saqqarah, Egypt Materials Faience tubs and beads, silver beads and gilded faience amulets with seven Hathor’s head restrung with a modern fiber. Description During the Egyptian New Kingdom the industry of faience enjoyed a glorious day, when the production of items as vases, necklaces, amulets and all sort of objects was really outstanding. This rare item is certainly of use of one distinguished Priestess of the Goddess Hathor and is formed by seven amulets and the faiance beads, however the fiber is modern and there is no clast. It was found in Saqqarah in 1994-5 and acquired in Bedrashein in 1997. The seven amulets show the face of the Goddess in details were gilded with gold leaf, but now the gilded cover is considerably reduced.   History: The horned cow-goddess Hathor was considered the Goddess of love; she was also the deity of happiness, dance and music, and a protector of women. She is depicted as a cow, as a woman with the head of a cow, or as a woman with who wears the stylized cow-horns which hold in them the solar disk. Her symbols also included the papyrus reed, the snake and a rattle (musical instrument) called a sistrum.   The goddess Hathor can appear as either cows or as beautiful women.  The cows are usually seen in a funerary context, where they are accompanied by the sky-bull, the "Bull of the West". Some of the depictions show them wearing a patterned "saddle-cloth," a sun-disk, a double curved plume, and a menat necklace.   Their function is to nourish and protect the deceased from harm. In their human form, the Goddess Hathor is present at the birth of a child, when they pronounce its fate.  They are also called upon for help in matters of love, as well as protection from evil spirits.  The power of the red hair-ribbons of Hathor is used to bind dangerous spirits and render them harmless. The symbols of Hathor are: cow, lioness, falcon, cobra, hippopotamus, sistrum, musical instruments, drums, pregnant women, mirrors, cosmetics. The Cult Center of the Goddess was mainly Dendera, but other temples and chapels were built along the Nile. Her cult was centered in Dendera where she was a goddess of fertility and childbirth. In Thebes she was seen as a goddess of the dead, and the Greeks identified her with Aphrodite (their goddess of love).   Early in Egyptian mythology she was known has Horus' mother (later Isis assumed this role). Proof of this is seen in her name, "Hathor" which means the "house of Horus". As the mother of Horus, the queen of Egypt was identified with her. This is natural, as the queen was the mother of the Pharaoh, the living Horus. Isis was often shown with cow-horns like Hathor's on her head when the artist wanted to emphasize her role as the mother of Horus. It was said that when a child was born, Seven Hathors came to his bedside to announce his fate. The Seven Hathors were believed to know the future and the moment of death for every Egyptian. A person's destiny depended on the hour of their death and the luck of ill-fortune was connected with it. It was believed that the Hathors would exchange a prince born to ill-fortune with a more fortunate child, therefore protecting the dynasty and the nation. The Hathors were shown as a group of young women playing tambourines and wearing the disk and horns of Hathor.   During Ptolemaic times (when Greeks ruled over Egypt), they were identified with the Pleiades. In the Story of Re, she was created by her father Re as "Sekhmet" as a destroyer of men, who were disobedient to him. Later Re changed his mind, but even he could not stop her from killing men. He then disguised beer as blood and when Sekhmet became drunk, she could no longer kill and was known thereafter as Hathor, a goddess of love.   Hymn of the Seven Hathors from the Temple of Dendera We play the tambourine for Your Ka, We dance for Your Majesty, We exalt You To the height of heaven. You are the Mistress of Sekhem, The Menat and the Sistrum, The Mistress of Music, For whose Ka one plays.   We praise Your Majesty every day, From dusk until the earth grows light, We rejoice in Your countenance, O Mistress in Dendera!  We praise You with song. You are the Lady of Jubilation, the Mistress of the Iba-dance, The Lady of Music, the Mistress of Harp-playing, The Lady of Dancing, the Mistress of Tying on Garlands, The Lady of Myrrh, and the Mistress of Leaping.   We glorify Your Majesty; We give praise before Your Face. We exalt Your Power Over the Gods and the Goddesses. You are the Lady of Hymns, The Mistress of the Library, The Great Seshat At the head of the Mansion of Records.   We propitiate Your Majesty every day. Your heart rejoices at hearing our songs. We rejoice when we see You, day by day. Our hearts are jubilant when we see Your Majesty. You are the Lady of Garlands, the Mistress of Dance… The Lady of Unending Drunkenness. We rejoice before your face; we play for your Ka.  Your heart rejoices over our performance.”   From the 5th Crypt of the Temple of Dendera Mariette: Denderah, Tome 3, pl. 60. Highlights Two silver beads enrich the composition Condition As it is and shown in picture. We would say: good and stable condition but some of the gold leaf is lost while some parts are well visible. Measures The total length is 25 ½ inches. Each amulet is 1 ½  X ¾ Date (or estimated) Possibly  XIX or XX Dynasty ( c. 1200 bC) or later. Origin of the item Private Collection in RJ.   Business Information History/background Every item offered by MAT-AC (Mouseîon Antiques Trading & Ashraf Coins) is unconditionally guaranteed to be Genuine and Authentic. We are located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where we have a small shop. From 1996 we started to work as Antique Dealers and we have travelled many times to places related to History and Archaeology, looking for interesting items to sell and pieces for our own collection. From 2002 we work with Archaeological Tours. Also, we collect archaeological artifacts and art works for more than 25 years and part of this collection will be displayed in the Mankind Museum in Rio de Janeiro, which will be inaugurated soon. Payment policy We accept payments through PayPal, XOOM  ( www.xoom.com)  Mail order or Bank transfer for Citibank account. All payments are required until 5 days after the end of auction. After that an unpaid item report will be issued to eBay. Shipping information   Shipping WORLDWIDE => Buyer pays shipping costs depending on buyer's requests. Some expensive items can be sent free. Combined Shipping => Multiple items can be combined for a single low shipping cost. Insurance => Optional insurance. Registered Mail => If you would like registered Mail, please let me know as soon as you win the item. Not registered Mail is sent with buyer's risk. Note => For countries like China, Turkey, all Eastern Europe & Central and South America we recommend to send all items with registered Mail for your security. Note 2 => Parcels and Orders to Italy are subject to a high insurance always. Insurance We strongly recommend doing Insurance for all items sent abroad. For some expensive and rare items, we offer insurance as a COURTESY, even if the Buyer opts for not doing it. Otherwise, it is at buyer’s risk and we have no responsibility for damaging or losing the items. Return policy All illustrations are of the actual item offered here. The authenticity of all pieces is fully guaranteed and comes with our gallery Certificate of Authenticity. If the object does not fit the description; just let us know within 07 days after receiving the object. You send the item back in the same conditions and we will return the price you paid (shipping excluded).We don’t accept damaged items back. We will answer your questions as soon as possible. Please write to us: pradodemello@hotmail.com Travels to places of Archaeological significance Also, we organize special tours to places of archaeological and historical significance in travels designed as Courses of Archaeology in loco. With pleasure, we help people to purchase items in places as Damascus, Bucharest, Cusco and other odd places. Then, not only you can visit the place, but you can be assisted to buy good and interesting items.   New Items and Special Collections We are listing items several times a week. We have a big collection of AFRICAN & OCEANIC ART - under our responsibility - and we are available to give information upon request. If someone is interest, we can offer the item on eBay. We have a good list of customers and sellers in Brazil and abroad. If you have a special thing in mind, don’t hesitate in asking to us. Please write to: pradodemello@hotmail.com   Place a Bid!