Details

LOT 0810

Babylonian Ur Vessel and Cuneiform Tablet Relating to Beer for Mercenaries in the Service of Babylon

CIRCA 2000-1500 B.C.

1 3/8 - 1 3/4 in. (100 grams total, 36-43 mm).

A group of two ceramic artefacts: an Ur miniature pot of carinated form with everted lip, dated c.2000 B.C.; a roughly rectangular tablet bearing cuneiform text to both principal faces and to each side edge, a memo relating to an expenditure of beer for mercenaries in garrison in the service of Babylon (20th year Abi-ešuh 1711-1684 BC): '2 jars of 15 liters for the rations of the troop of the Cassites. Contribution of Ibnatum.' [2, No Reserve]

Provenance

From an old UK collection.
From the private collection of Alf Baxendale (1941-2016) part 2, keen Egyptologist, member of the Egyptology Society, trustee of the Amarna Trust; thence by descent.

Accompanied by two identification display cards.
Accompanied by a copy of his obituary published in Horizon, The Amarna Project and Amarna Trust newsletter, Issue 18, 2017, p.21, by Barry John Kemp, CBE, FBA, Professor Emeritus of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge and directing excavations at Amarna in Egypt.