The key facts
- A bronze figure of Ptah (~2,700 years old) was exhibited at Frieze Masters 2026 in London (October 14–18, Regent's Park, ~60,000 visitors).
- The figure previously belonged to William Randolph Hearst, whose friend was Cedric Gibbons — designer of the 'Oscar' statuette (1928).
- The link is unproven: Gibbons never confirmed his source of inspiration; the statuette was sold on the first day for an undisclosed sum.
A possible Egyptian hint in the design of the 'Oscar'
A bronze statuette of the ancient Egyptian god Ptah — a creator deity and patron of architects — about 2,700 years old, attracted attention at the Frieze Masters fair in London. Antiques dealer Rupert Wace, while researching the object's provenance before the fair, discovered a possible connection between the sculpture and the design of the 'Oscar' statuette, created by art director Cedric Gibbons in 1928.
The role of William Randolph Hearst
According to Wace, the figure once belonged to newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and Gibbons was his friend and frequent guest: he visited Hearst both at San Simeon in California and at his New York home, which had a separate hall for the Egyptian collection. Wace quotes: 'We found out that this object was in the Hearst collection, and the man who came up with the
The author of the theory himself admits: it is only a conjecture
Gibbons, who died in 1960, never directly named the source of inspiration for his design. Wace stresses that there is no proof: 'In a sense, all of this is just conjecture. We added two and two and may have got either four or five. We cannot prove it.' At the same time, in his view, the resemblance is striking, and the statuette turned out to be 'in the right place with the right people at the right time,' which makes a mere coincidence unlikely.
The object's value and the sale
The statuette dates to the late period of Ancient Egypt, shortly before the country's conquest by the Achaemenid Persian Empire. It has gold-inlaid eyes. 'Even without this story, the object would be magnificent in its own right. It is a very fine bronze work with an excellent collecting history. So the extra Hollywood storyline is just the cherry on the cake,' Wace noted. The figure was sold on the first day of the fair for an undisclosed sum. Frieze Masters 2026 ran from October 14 to 18 in London's Regent's Park and, by estimates, received about 60,000 visitors.
