Two birth or "apotropaic" chopsticks These wands were used to protect women or children of high status. The bas-reliefs depicting them always place them in the hands of nurses. The first is engraved with a series of figures, including the hippopotamus goddess Ipi (one of the earliest forms of Thoueris) holding a knife and preceding a lioness, followed by a snake-necked panther and a cobra, with a snake in their mouths. Finished with a long-eared fox head. The second is adorned with a sun disk on legs surmounted by an uraeus, a feline deity holding a knife and clutching a snake in its mouth, a winged cobra with panther head emerging from a neb basket. Finished with a panther head. Engraved hippopotamus ivory. Broken and glued. Egypt, Middle Kingdom (1862-1686 B.C./Late 12th Dynasty - 13th Dynasty) Height: 17.5 and 15 cm Provenance : - Classian Art Ltd before 1996. - Andrew Hess collection, Wilton Cresent, London. - Hewett collection, acquired 1960. Two Egyptian Apotropaic Wands, Middle Kingdon (late XIIth-XIIIth Dynasty)