Bactrian Bronze Weight

Pillow-shaped clay tablet with cuneiform text to one broad face and one edge; chipped. 43.5 grams, 50 mm



Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992. Thence by descent to family members. Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This small collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples.

Amulet of a deity in human form wearing a pointed cap and pleated kilt, hands placed on the chest supporting coiled serpent (or staff), ledge to rear; possibly Tarḫunna, the Hittite weather-god. 3.9 grams, 29 mm



From the Bavarian private collection of F.U., Germany, before 2000. Acquired Gorny & Mosch, 17 June 2015, lot 246. Property of a French collector. Accompanied by a copy of the relevant Gorny & Mosch catalogue pages. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12123-214885.

The proper name of the weather god is not known, as it was expressed with an ideogram in the texts; his name was probably Tarhunna, from Hattic Taru. Among the Luwians he was called Datta and Tarhunt. The Hittite province of Tarhuntassa, south of the heartland of the Hittite Empire, took its name from the latter: 'land of the weather god'.

Restrung designer necklace with tubular, oblate and other beads, the centrepiece formed of six shell bracelet sections. 45.3 grams, 34 cm



Acquired on the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. Ex London, UK, gallery.