An Egyptian Speckled Diorite Knife Handle

Late Period, circa 712 - 30 B.C.

Length: 8.1cm.(3 1/8in.)

Terminating in the figure of a grasshopper, with a slot for the insertion of the knife at one end.

Provenance

European private collection. Acquired in Holland in the 1960-70s

For two examples in the collection of Martine, Comtesse de Béhague, see Sotheby's, Monaco, 5th December 1987, lots 68 and 69. Cf. Ludwig Keimer, "Pendeloques en forms d'insectes faisant partie de colliers egyptiens", Annales du Service des Antiquites de l'Egypt, vol. 32, pp. 131-150