Achaemenid Turquoise Blue Glass Bead Necklace String

A bifacial sceptre head formed as a Master of Animals atop a collared tubular stem with flared foot; the finial composed of two addorsed birds standing on their backs looking up towards two birds' heads facing down and joined to slender crescentic arms representing slender beasts with ridged backs and roaring mouths, each in the grip of the Master standing crowned between them; the Master with tubular body, animal-like ears, prominent nose above a small mouth and wearing collars, neck rings and tiered headdress; waisted socket below; mounted on a display stand. 399 grams, 32.3 cm (526 grams total, 34.5 cm including stand)



Acquired between 1965-2020. Private collection, London. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The small head belongs to the tubular idols with protomes of second type of ‘Master of Animals’, probably being a finial standard. This type, according to Chausidis, came to be with the gradual transformation of the ‘zoomorphic standards with a human head, whereby the front legs of the animals became integrated into the tubular pillar of the standards. It gradually began to be cast with the other elements, representing the neck and torso of the central anthropomorphic character that retained the two-faced feature of the previous type. The necks and heads of the animal pair separated from the rest of their bodies, which, in turn, gradually lost their original form and acquired new meanings.

Composed of mainly annular and oblate beads, large melon bead to the centre; restrung. 24.8 grams, 36.5 cm



Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Globular with flared rim, horizontal painted bands to the shoulder and equator, wavy line beneath and frieze of ibexes above. 768 grams, 15.7 cm high



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The images of the ibex attested as the most ancient figures date back to the discovery of the beakers of Susa ca. 4000 B.C. There are several such beakers in the museums, all coming from the excavations of the prehistoric levels of Susa (later on becoming the Elamite Shushan, modern Shush, Iran). The ibex is portrayed in a non-naturalistic way, with the use of simple shapes, such as triangles. The horns of the goat arch back over itself, forming a circle over its body. The beakers of Susa have the following elements in common: the large ibex image, with exaggerated horns, and figures of wavy lines symbolising water and rain.