Brass Figure of the Sun God Ra, 1935

Anonymous, Sun God Ra (bookend), 16 x 13.5 x 6 cm (depiction), 17.5 x 13.5 x 8 cm (with pedestal), patinated brass, c. 1935.

- Nose slightly rubbed, otherwise very good condition





- The Light of Knowledge -


This is a work from the still largely unwritten art history of the bookend. This new artistic genre developed with the rise of bourgeois libraries in the 19th century and reached its peak in Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Although it may not seem so at first glance, the image refers to the library represented by the bookend. We see the Egyptian sun god Ra, whose head is integrated into the sun disk. A halo that is itself the source of sacred light - after all, Ra is the sun itself.

Below Ra's head, depicted on an implied stele, we see a plow, which represents the cultivation of the soil and is a symbol for the cultivation of the soul. The plow on the bookend is an allegory of reading, since reading is done line by line, analogous to plowing. And reading in particular is a cultivation of the soul, as it opens up the divine light of knowledge, just as the library is able to make accessible the original knowledge illustrated by the bookend.

The geometric shape of the base and the leitmotif of the circle, together with the symmetrical formal rigor of the Egyptian motif, identify the bookend as a characteristic work of Art Deco.