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LOT 0208
Bactrian Black Chlorite 'Hand Bag' Ceremonial Weight
3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.
7 1/4 in. (8 3/8 in.) (2.95 kg total,18.5 cm (22.5 cm including stand)).
D-shaped in profile with void below the curved edge, obverse with reserved serpent and lion opposed, the lion's claw grasping the serpent; reverse with spread eagle flanked by rearing serpents; all bodies with sockets to accept coloured inserts; mounted on a custom-made stand. [No Reserve]
Provenancewith Gallery Rosen Ancient Art, Tel Aviv, 1960s.
Ex London, UK, gallery, 1971-early 2000s.
London, UK, collection.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate no.12774-237878.
Cf. 7000 years of Iranian Art, Exhibition catalogue, Smithsonian Institute, 1964, p.54 & p.118, illustration no.11; and see Vidale, M., Treasures from the Oxus: The Art and Civilisation of Central Asia, London, 2017, pp.44-51, figs.41-45, for a variety of stones and shapes.
FootnotesThe object could have been carried or swung in ceremonies or processions. On one side is a bird of prey, with its claws surrounded by the writhing bodies of two serpents, whose heads flank the bird's head. This symmetrical scheme probably renders a version of the enmity of eagle and serpent, which must have been an important theme of ancient Iranian art; the motif was later diffused throughout the world.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Sumerian Black Stone Face Amulet
Uruk/Jemdet Nasr Period, circa 3500-2900 B.C. or laterEstimate: £200 - 300 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £110
Carved in the half-round with large eyes and ears; drilled depression above the head and beneath the chin. 4.6 grams, 19 mm
From the 'S' collection, acquired 1970-1990s. Accompanied by a description from Peter Gert Van der Veen, senior lecturer of Levantine Archaeology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz. 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. -
Urartu Decorated Bronze Chalice
Early 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,120
With pedestal foot and rib above, bowl with repoussé collar to the equator, guilloche below; mouth with hatched vandykes at the shoulder. 255 grams, 14.6 cm wide
Ex property of a London, UK, gentleman, Mayfair gallery, 1990s. -
Jemdet Nasr White Marble Cylinder Seal with Temple
3000-2800 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,430
Showing a decorated temple with animals, accompanied by a museum quality impression and a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: Cylinder Seal of White Marble, 41 x 35 mm. The engraving shows a decorated temple facade and beside it four horned animals, a standard on a pole and a motif of four dots. This is a Jemdet Nasr seal, c. 3000-2800 B.C., from southern Mesopotamia, and is in very good state of preservation. It illustrates the Sumerian city state of the time. the temple was the largest building, and it owned flocks and herds, being a big economic organization as well as a religious institution. For the climate and terrain sheep and goats were the normal domestic animals, and ordinary people might own these. The larger domestic animals, which included cattle and other horned animals such as gazelles which eventually proved unsuccessful as domestic animals, were owned only by the temple. Seals of this size and quality are rare.' 98.8 grams, 41 mm
with Armand Trampitsch, Glyptique Archéologie, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Sale No.2, 13-14 May 1992, no.216. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in 1992.
Seals were the working signatures of the ancient Near East. Pressed or rolled into wet clay, they secured jars, bags, doors and tablets, and left a distinct impression that identified the owner, authorised a transaction, and showed whether a container had been opened. Stamp seals (pressed once to leave a single emblem) appear from the 7th–4th millennia BC and continue throughout later periods; cylinder seals (rolled to create a repeating frieze) develop in Mesopotamia in the late 4th millennium BC and are used into the 1st millennium BC. Beyond administration, seals were miniature artworks and amulets. Their images—gods and worshippers, royal hunts, banquets, heroes and mythic beasts—broadcast rank, piety and profession, and were believed to protect the owner. Materials range from soft stones to hard chalcedonies, haematite and lapis, worked with drills and abrasives to achieve crisp intaglio cutting. Many were worn on cords or rings and followed their owners through life, sometimes into the grave. Seals matter because they underpin the earliest systems of record-keeping and trade. Impressions on tablets and bullae are primary documents for ancient law, economy and religion; the seals themselves preserve that imagery in the round. For collectors, well-cut examples with sharp impressions, good polish and honest ancient wear are especially desirable, and pieces with early collection histories are keenly sought.