New Bond Street Sculpture: Sotheby’s Ancient Secret
New Bond Street looks delightful in December. With a collection of London’s finest stores glittering with Christmas lights and window displays there’s a fair amount of luxury on display.
However, one facade hides a much older bit of wealth in plain sight.

Image by Luke Abrahams (see more of his gorgeous photography here!)
Sotheby’s Ancient Secret
Take a closer look at Sotheby’s pediment and you’ll spot a black stone statue of the Lion-Goddess Sekhmet.

If you’re able to read the date from ground level you’d be surprised – as I was – to see that it apparently dates from 1320 BC.

What on Earth is it doing here?
The story according to Sotheby’s is that it was on sale in the 1800s and was sold for £40. However, the buyer of this precious Ancient Egyptian artefact never came to collect it.
This year marks the 100th year Sotheby’s have been on New Bond Street and since this sculpture was something of a mascot, it was painstakingly moved with the company from their previous premises on Wellington Street in 1917.

Today it can claim to be the oldest privately owned monument in London and should definitely top the list of oldest public sculpture in the city.
Chatting to a very friendly security guard, he claimed the ancient sculpture was in very safe hands, guarded by 24 CCTV. Good thing too as it’s now worth around £3.5million!
More London Inspiration
Oxford Street has a bad rep from Londoners, but there’s a surprising among of fabulous history if you know where to look. From a hidden little oasis to the more gruesome reminders at Tottenham Court Road and Marble Arch, often you have to look up......
By the Museum of London you can see an amazing little clue to uncover the history of the Bull and Mouth Coaching Inn...
I’m constantly surprised by the wonderful doors that have opened since starting this blog back in 2015. A case in point was that a few weeks ago I wrote about the extraordinary history of Crosby Hall; the Medieval Mansion that was moved 5 miles across......
If you look up along Ranelagh Gardens, atop the railway viaduct for Putney Bridge Tube Station, you can spy a curious WWII Relic; a Pillbox. This concrete pillbox was erected in 1940 across Britain, a final line of defence should Germany invade during WWII. They......
Look up at 22 Endell Street in Covent Garden, and you’ll see the striking facade of a former stained glass studio. Built in 1859 and designed by Robert Jewell Withers, between the multi-coloured decorative brickwork you can make out the proclamation in stone; Lavers and......
The London Museum – formerly Museum of London – is scheduled to open for a mini festival in 2025 then fully as a museum in 2026. So you can imagine my excitement when I was invited to get a special look around the building site......

No Comments