The Brummer Horus

A large, finely carved limestone statue of the falcon of Horus. The bird stands tall on an integrated rectangular base, its long, slender talons articulated with delicate precision. The legs rise smoothly into the proudly rounded breast, with the wings folded flush on either side. The divided tail feathers cross over in the typical V-shaped at the back of the statue. The wide, alert eyes are outlined with a deep incision, highlight their oval form. The beak is similarly rounded, and incised with additional detail. Atop the falcon’s head sits the remaining base of a uraeus-falcon and crown of Upper and Lower Egypt (now missing), denoting its kingly status. Traces of the original red paint can be seen, for instance on the wings. This is a smaller, though still notably large, version of the famous Horus falcon flanking the entrance to the temple of Horus at Edfu. Very few examples of limestone statues of falcons have survived from antiquity, due to the relatively soft nature of the stone. One example, also acquired from Maurice Nahman as this one was, is now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (E 11152), and another is in the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, N.C. (GL.57.14.86).

Horus, the son of the goddess Isis and the god Osiris, was one of the most important gods in the Egyptian pantheon. He was worshipped from at least late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. His battle to regain his throne from his uncle Seth, who had killed his father Osiris, was viewed as symbolic of the pharaoh’s vanquishing of Egypt’s enemies, and he was seen as the uniter of the Two Kingdoms of Egypt and the maintainer of order. He therefore represented the concept of balance, which was highly valued by the Egyptians. As such, he was associated with kingship and the pharaoh came to be viewed as a representation of Horus on earth. The Pyramid Texts (c. 2400-2300 B.C.) describe the pharaoh as embodying Horus in life and Osiris in death – when one pharaoh died their successor was Horus’s new incarnation. During his battle with Seth, one of Horus’s eyes was gouged out – the Eye of Horus, or wedjat-eye, was a powerful apotropaic symbol for ancient Egyptians.

Following his victory over Seth, Horus became known as ‘Horus the Great’ or ‘Horus the Elder’. This is written in hieroglyphs as ḥr.w, or ‘falcon’, 𓅃, and is also translated as ‘the distant one’ or ‘one who is above, over’. Horus was often depicted as a falcon or a man with a falcon’s head. The falcon, therefore, came to symbolise divine kingship in itself, and is often depicted wearing the Double Crown of Egypt or the sun disc in statues and paintings. Horus was also god of the sky, with the sun as his right eye and the moon as his left. In his falcon form, Horus flew the sun and moon in their journey across the sky, with outspread wings protecting the earth below.

From the Late Period onwards, sacred animals became a focus for ancient Egyptian worship in the form of mummies and votive offerings. The animals were worshipped as a living incarnation of a god on earth. They would often be kept in the precinct of their associated deity’s temple, where they would live a life of great luxury. Several industries supported the animal cults, with keepers, embalmers, and builders constructing the dedicated necropoleis, as well as the priests who managed the donations. Entire complexes of buildings dedicated to falcons of Horus have been found at Saqqara, Buto, Abydos, and Kom Ombo. Pilgrims who visited these temples would purchase falcons to be mummified and presented as signs of devotion to the god, or when seeking a particular blessing. Their offerings would then be interred in the catacombs as an eternal prayer to Horus. The falcons were treated with the same reverence in death as in life: they were carefully mummified with bandages overlaid in elaborate patterns and often with painted cartonnage masks, as seen in examples now in the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta (1958.063 and 2005.040.002) and the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (98.4-E).[1] They would also be buried in their own carefully-crafted coffins.[2]

-
[1] ‘Falcon Mummy’, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta, 1958.063: https://collections.carlos.emory.edu/objects/3730/falcon-mummy (accessed 04/04/2025); [1] ‘Falcon Mummy’, Michael C. Carlos Museum, Atlanta, 2005.040.002: https://collections.carlos.emory.edu/objects/12699/falcon-mummy (accessed 04/04/2025); ‘Mummy of a Falcon’, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 98.4-E: https://egypt-museum.com/falcon-mummy/ (accessed 04/04/2025).

[2] ‘Coffin’, The British Museum, London, 1905,0515.42: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA41552 (accessed 04/04/2025).

 

The Cranbrook Collections, Sotheby, Parke-Bernet, New York, 2-5 May 1972, Lot 360, p. 151.

Previously with Maurice Nahman (1868-1948), Cairo, by at least 1929.
With the Brummer Gallery, New York, acquired from the above on 9 July 1929, accompanied by inventory card P6163 and inventory binders.
Private Collection of William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), California, acquired from the above on 9 December 1930.
With Parish-Watson & Co., New York, acquired from the above, by at least 1939.
With the Brummer Gallery, New York, acquired from the above on 2 June 1939, accompanied by inventory card N4456 and inventory binders.
Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan, accession number 1939.87, acquired from the above on 10 November 1939, accompanied by inventory sheets and October 1939 correspondence between George Blooth and Joseph Brummer. Accession number matches the one painted in red on the tail of the statue, ‘39.87’.
Sold at: The Cranbrook Collections, Sotheby, Parke-Bernet, New York, 2-5 May 1972, Lot 360.
Private Collection of Peter Wilson C.B.E. (1913-1984), Château de Clavary, Auribeau-sur-Siagne, France, by at least January 1983, accompanied by dated inventory.
Thence by descent.
ALR: S00261880, with IADAA Certificate, this item has been checked against the Interpol database.
 

Maurice Nahman (1868-1948) was born in Cairo to banker Robert N. Bey and Sarina Rossano. He began working as a cashier at Credit Foncier Égyptien in 1884, and was promoted to Head Cashier in 1908. In 1924 Nahman retired in order to focus on his gallery full-time. His interest in antiquities began at a young age, and he began dealing in art in 1890. In 1913 he purchased 27 Madebegh Street (now Sherif Street), a vast palazzo of Arab style, which held a large gallery where he displayed his antiquities – the building later known as ‘Casa Nahman’. Though mostly recognised as a dealer of ancient Egyptian antiquities, Nahman also dealt in high quality Coptic and Islamic artefacts.

Through his half a century of daily experience with Egyptian antiquities, Nahman became an expert in identifying forgeries, and his opinion was sought out by many specialists. As advertised on his calling card, Nahman supplied objects to many major museums, including the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the British Museum, the Musée du Louvre, the Museum of Fine Arts in New York, and the Museum of Berlin. His gallery guestbook includes the likes of Chester Beatty, Hagop Kevorkian, Bernard von Bothmer, Maurice de Rothschild, and John Rockefeller.

A premature obituary for Nahman was written by Belgian Egyptologist Jean Capart in 1947, as a result of an incorrect rumour that Nahman had died (Chronique d’Egypte, 1947, 22:43). Capart praised Nahman as ‘le plus grand marchand d’antiquités égyptiennes du monde’. This obituary was republished after Nahman’s death, in the same issue of Chronique d’Egypte as Capart’s own obituary. After Nahman’s death in 1948, his son Robert continued the antiquities business until he passed in 1954. The sale at Hotel Drouot in June 1954 at which this ushabti was sold was one of two large posthumous sales of the Nahman collection.

Joseph Brummer (1883-1947) was born in Sombor, Hungary, and cultivated an interest in the arts from an early age. He studied art and worked as a sculptor, but it is as a connoisseur and art dealer that he is best remembered.

He moved to Paris and formed a partnership with the Maison Delhomme to sell antiquities at 67 Boulevard Raspail. In November 1910, he set up his own gallery, Maison Joseph Brummer, at the same address and moved to a new location a couple of months later. He called his new gallery Brummer: Objets d’art anciens. His younger brothers Imre (1889–1928) and Ernest (1891–1964), soon joined him and the gallery was renamed Brummer Frères: Curiosités. The brothers worked in Paris for two years, before Joseph and Imre emigrated to New York in 1914, where they opened a gallery on 57th Street
Joseph’s Paris gallery closed after the First World War and in 1921 he moved to New York full-time, becoming one of the pre-eminent dealers of his time, specialising in medieval and Renaissance European art, and Classical, Ancient Egyptian, African, and pre-Columbian objects. He also hosted exhibitions of modern painters. Joseph built up an extraordinary private collection during this time, a major portion of which was bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art on his death in 1947. Much of his remaining collection was sold in 1949 at Parke-Bernet Galleries.
The inventory card records that Brummer purchased this stele in November 1923, and is stamped to indicate that it was included in the third auction of Joseph’s collection at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 8-9 June 1949, Lot 419. However, the stele must not have sold at this time.

Born in former Yugoslavia, Ernest Brummer (1891–1964) moved to Paris to study art history at the Sorbonne and the École du Louvre, where he studied with Salomon Reinach, who had recently been appointed director of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales. Later, with his brothers, Joseph (1883–1947) and Imre (1895–1928), he opened an antiquities shop.
Ernest remained in Paris after Joseph and Imre left for the United States in 1914 at the beginning of the First World War. The gallery would remain at 3, boulevard Raspail until the early 1920s, when Ernest would relocate it to 36, rue de Miromesnil, after Ernest and Joseph had a falling out. After the war, Joseph opened a second shop at 203 bis, boulevard Saint Germain. The brothers were reconciled by 1924 and participated in a transatlantic partnership until Joseph's death in 1947. After joining the business in Paris, Ernest travelled extensively throughout Europe to acquire works of art for the gallery. The Brummers initially dealt in African tribal arts before branching out into ancient, medieval, contemporary French, and pre-Columbian art.

William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) was born on 29 April 1863, in San Francisco, California, as the only child of George and Phoebe Hearst. His father, wealthy from his various mining interests, provided young William with the opportunity to see and experience the world as few do.

In 1903, Hearst married Millicent Willson in New York City. The couple had five sons together during their marriage: George, William Randolph Jr., John and twins Randolph and David. Their honeymoon drive across the European continent inspired Mr. Hearst to launch his first magazine, Motor. Motor became the foundation for his next publishing endeavour – which still operates today as Hearst Magazines.

Hearst’s interest in politics led him to election to the United States House of Representatives as Congressman for New York in 1902. After re-election in 1904, he unsuccessfully pursued the New York Governorship in 1906.

In the 1920s, Hearst started one of the first print-media companies to enter radio broadcasting. Hearst was a major producer of movie newsreels with his company Hearst Metrotone News, and is widely credited with creating the comic strip syndication business. His King Features Syndicate is the largest distributor of comics and text features in the world today. Hearst also produced over 100 films including: The Perils of Pauline, The Exploits of Elaine, and The Mysteries of Myra. In the 1940s he was an early pioneer of television.

In addition to his brilliant business endeavours, Hearst amassed a vast and impressive art collection, which featured American and European Old Master paintings and sculptures, tapestries, oriental rugs, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities, silver, furniture, and historic ceilings. To house his growing collection, Hearst purchased a five-story warehouse in the Bronx, and formed the International Studio Arts Corporation (ISAC) as a wholly-owned subsidiary of his holdings. Following the Great Depression, Hearst was in significant debt and was forced to sell much of his art collection in the mid-1930s.

It is believed that the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane (1941) is loosely based on Hearst. Hearst was enraged at the idea of Citizen Kane being a very unflattering and thinly disguised portrait, and used his massive influence and resources to prevent the film from being released – without even having seen it. Welles and the studio RKO Pictures resisted, but Hearst and his Hollywood friends ultimately succeeded in pressuring theatre chains to limit showings of Citizen Kane, resulting in only moderate box-office numbers and seriously impairing Welles’s career prospects.

The Cranbrook Academy of Art (now the Cranbrook Art Museum), Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, was founded by newspaper publisher and philanthropist George Gough Booth and his wife, Ellen Scripps Booth. Initially constructed on 19 January 1904 as their 175-acre holiday home, large parts of the estate was donated in 1927 to form an educational and cultural centre governed by The Cranbrook Foundation. At the first meeting of the Board of Trustees, Booth announced the formation of both an Academy of Arts and a School of Arts and Crafts. That same year, Booth also donated part of his personal collection of art objects, and books on art and architecture, and in 1930, the Cranbrook Museum was opened to the public for the first time. The Cranbrook Academy of Art was formally established in 1932, with architect Eliel Saarinen as its first President. Saarinen described the academy as ‘not an art school in the ordinary meaning. It is a working place for creative art … Creative art cannot be taught by others. Each one has to be his own teacher’. By the mid-1930s, the museum had established itself with exhibitions of both its formal collection, which focused on decorative and applied arts, and temporary exhibitions. By 1940, the collections had grown so much that they were overflowing the existing building, and construction began on a new library and museum space. The new Cranbrook Art Museum was complete in 1942 and it is estimated that it hosted almost 50,000 visitors in 1948. In 1955, the Foundation was renamed the Cranbrook Academy of Art Galleries, and its focus shifted from an encyclopaedic museum collection to contemporary art, and the management of the museum was gradually absorbed by the academy in the following decade. In 1972, the Galleries Committee was forced to sell part of the collection in order to fund the Academy’s endowment.

Peter Wilson C.B.E. (1913-1984) was the son of Sir Matthew Wilson, 4th Baronet of Eshton Hall, Gargrave, Yorkshire. He studied at Eton College and at the University of Oxford. He married Helen Ballard in 1935 and had two sons, before dissolving the marriage on good terms in 1951 when Wilson came out as gay. Wilson worked for the British Intelligence during the Second World War, serving in London and Washington D.C., but returned to his career as chairman of Sotheby’s in London after the war. He was known for his discerning eye and was credited by Sir James Goldsmith as, ‘[t]he only genius in business of my generation at Eton, and by that I mean he invented a market’. International auctioneering found its real inception at the 15 October 1958 auction of impressionist paintings belonging to Erno Goldschmidt, masterminded by Wilson at Sotheby’s. This sale established London as the world centre of the art market, and Sotheby’s as an international auction house. Under Wilson’s leadership, Sotheby’s acquired the New York auction house Parke-Bernet in 1964, and opened offices in all the major European capitals – including the saleroom in Monte Carlo in 1975, establishing a new major market. Wilson preferred spending his time perusing antique shops with his close friends, such as art dealers Jack and Putzel Hunt, and John Hewett, rather than with the Etonian crowd in private clubs (he was not a member of any). He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970 and was made honorary life president of Sotheby’s in 1980 when he stood down as chairman. Geraldine Norman, salesroom correspondent, described Wilson’s impact on the international art market over his career as akin to, ‘Henry Ford on the mass production of cars, Rothschild on banking, or Fleming on medicine’.

Wilson owned the Château de Clavary at Auribeau-sur-Siagne, an eighteenth-century Palladian-style villa and estate in the South of France, where he vacationed until the end of his life. The entrance foyer features a striking black-and-white mosaic designed by Pablo Picasso in 1927; Wilson displayed his ancient artworks here, including the Horus, juxtaposing the modern and the classical. The chateau had been a meeting spot for the artists and intelligentsia of the twentieth century whilst in the hands of the previous owner, American artist Russell Greely. Wilson’s home and collections were published in a 1975 article in House Beautiful, ‘A Choice Chateau for a Renowned Connoisseur’. The photographs in this article showcased Wilson’s extensive collection, including seventeenth- and eighteenth-century paintings, blue and white porcelains, antique furniture, and antiquities.