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_900x900.jpg "Bactrian Manuscript of an Order to Meyam's Servant")
_200x200.jpg "Bactrian Manuscript of an Order to Meyam's Servant")
.jpg "Bactrian Manuscript of an Order to Meyam's Servant")
LOT 0832
Bactrian Manuscript of an Order to Meyam's Servant
5TH-8TH CENTURY A.D.
3 in. (1.16 grams, 77 mm).
A possibly complete document written on leather, recto with four lines of Avestan cursive script; verso blank; wide bottom margin with diamond-shaped hole to accept seal string; likely an order rather than a letter due to lack of formal address. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceDavid Lindahl, Sweden, 2001.
Collection of Bruce Ferrini, USA
Central London gallery.
Property of a UK collector.
For UK buyers only.
Sims-Williams, N., Bactrian Documents II: Letters and Buddhist Texts, (Studies in the Khalili Collections, volume III), London, The Nour Foundation, 2012, pp.24, doc.xs, p.166-167, and Bactrian Documents III: pl.214.
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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LOT 0832
Bactrian Manuscript of an Order to Meyam's Servant
Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
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Amlash Terracotta Amphora
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £229
A finely modelled red terracotta amphora featuring a globular body rising from a flat base, a short neck, and a wide, flaring rim; two applied handles extending from the shoulder to the rim with bird-head detailing. 1 kg, 22 cm high
Fine condition.
Acquired 1970s-1990s. Ex Pars Gallery, Mayfair, London, UK. From a specialist collection of pottery. -
Western Asiatic Cylinder Seal with Worship Scene
Late 3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Estimate: £450 - 650 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £250
A waisted cylindrical marble stamp seal bearing a worship scene composed of a procession of robed human figures advancing left, towards a seated figure; pierced vertically for suspension. 34.6 grams, 36 mm
Fine condition.
Private family collection formed in London, mid 1980s to early 1990s. -
Mesopotamian Pictographic Administrative Tablet
Uruk III, circa 3000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,940
A bifacial, lentoid-section rectangular clay tablet with rounded corners and short sides, medial horizontal line to each face, with hand-drawn pictographs above and below, a count of sheep and caprids. 42 grams, 66 mm wide
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. The collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11637-198551.
Early writing was used primarily as a means of recording economic data; this tablet likely records deliveries and distributions of grain. At the end of the 4th millennium B.C., written language developed in Mesopotamia as pictographs, later evolving into abstract forms called cuneiform. Pictographs were drawn in the clay with a pointed implement. Circular impressions alongside the pictographs represented numerical symbols. Cuneiform (meaning wedge-shaped) script was written by pressing a reed pen or stylus with a wedge-shaped tip into a clay tablet.
