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LOT 0983
Cuneiform Tablet Fragment of a Divinatory Treaty Predicting the Peril of the Enemy Army
CIRCA 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (32 grams total, 70 x 70 mm including case).
A ceramic tablet fragment bearing dense cuneiform text to one face; held in a membranous frame, a divinatory treaty with observations on different configurations of the liver of a sheep (?) and their apodosis, that is to say the prediction for each case: the theme of 'the peril of the enemy army' is recurrent. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceEx 1970s collection.
Property of a North London gentleman.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0983
Cuneiform Tablet Fragment of a Divinatory Treaty Predicting the Peril of the Enemy Army
Sold for (Inc. bp): £364
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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. -
Babylonian Wheat Weight Collection
Circa 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
A mixed group of four stone wheat weights, comprising: one large, roughly biconical haematite example with one flat face; a pebble-shaped haematite weight with one flat face; a slender, haematite weight with flattened ends and one flat face; a smaller roughly biconical haematite example with one flattened face and flattened ends. 113 grams total, 17-48 mm
Acquired 1980s-1990s. H.N. collection, Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire, UK. -
Bactrian Alabaster Offering Cup
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £94
A spool-shaped alabaster offering cup with shallow bowl, veins in the stone. 1.68 kg, 13 cm high
Acquired 1990s. English private collection. Property of an Essex gentleman.
