An intriguing Egyptianesque marble niche carving
probably 19th century, formerly the property of Sir Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925) at Ditchingham House, Norfolk,

the standing figure carved basso-relievo holding a staff with a bird finial and wearing a headdress with lappets, and an eagle headpiece, Egyptian beard and a diaphanous skirt, smoothly carved from a marble boulder roughly hewn on three sides, mounted in a Victorian polished oak frame with wrought-iron fittings

50cm wide, 11.5cm deep, 86cm high

From the collection of Tim Wonnacott FRICS.

Sir Henry Rider Haggard KBE (1856-1925) lived at Ditchingham House, Norfolk, the family home of his wife, Mariana Louisa Margitson, and where most of his some sixty novels were written, including 'King Solomon's Mines' and 'She'. Having failed his army entrance exam, he was sent to a private crammer in London to prepare for his Foreign Office entrance, which he never sat. However, it was during these two years that he came into contact with people interested in the study of psychic phenomena.

From the middle of the 19th century, a modern spiritualism movement had grown up, propelled by mediums professing the ability to communicate to the dead. Other comparable groups arose, including the Theosophical Society, co-founded in 1875 by Madame Blavatski (1831-1891), combining Eastern Mysticism, which ultimately led to the New Age Movement later in the 20th century, drawing on occultism, spiritualism, New Thought as well as theosophy.

In 1875, Haggard was sent by his father to southern Africa to take up an unpaid Government appointment, and in 1877, was present for the announcement of the British annexation of the Boer Transvaal. Haggard married Marianna Margitson in 1880 whilst on a visit to England, the couple briefly returning to South Africa where they had a son, Arthur, in 1881, before returning to England in 1882 to live in Ditchingham. Their son died of measles in 1891, but they had three surviving daughters: Angela, Dorothy and Lilias.

In 1884, Haggard was called to the Bar but did little legal work, preferring to spend his time writing novels, such as 'King Solomon's Mines', published in 1885 and said to be the first of the 'Lost World' genre. His book 'She' has proved enduringly popular, selling in excess of 80 million copies. Three of his novels were written in collaboration with his friend Andrew Lang, who shared his interest in the spiritual realm and paranormal phenomena. One of Haggard's greatest friends was Wallis Budge (1857-1934), keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, who exerted considerable influence on Haggard's Egyptological outlook. Psychic investigation, precognitive dreams, occultism and Rosicrucianism were all common areas of interest and association between the two men. Haggard himself was also reputed to be a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn - founded in London by William Wynn Westcott and made famous by the actress Florence Farr, the secret society derived from the failed Hermetic Brotherhood of Egypt, the rituals for which took their inspiration from the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry enjoyed many crossovers, and Rider Haggard was also a prominent Freemason.

Haggard visited Egypt in 1887, 1904, 1912 and 1924-5, providing inspiration for his many Egyptian-themed novels, and is known to have owned at least thirty-six antiquities, which were largely given to Norwich Museum, with one or two pieces to the British Museum. His daughter Dorothy Cheyne née Rider Haggard lived for many years at Ditchingham, and her grandson Jonathan Cheyne remembers this stone carving from his childhood, placed in the nursery. It is not felt that this carving dates from antiquity, but it is possible that Haggard acquired it on his travels, possibly in Egypt, or it may have been removed to Ditchingham from the structure or decoration of one of the failed secret occult societies to which Haggard subscribed.

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