Cypriot Type Gold Pomegranate Bead Pair

Cylinder with cord and bead handles; accompanied by 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 dark-brown stone with white inclusions, 14 x 8.5 mm. Slight chipping on top, otherwise condition fine. Male figure wearing short kilt and raising one hand, in front of him female figure wearing long, flounced garment and raising both hands; both facing four bands containing (i) guilloche, (ii) backwards-facing rampant horned quadruped above sideways recumbent lion, (iii) recumbent stage between two other recumbent horned quadrupeds, (iv) slender dog (?) chasing quadruped with horns or long ears. From Syria, c. 1800-1700 B.C. For similar seals, see D. Collon, "The Green Jasper Cylinder Seal Workshop" in M.K. Buccellati et al. (eds.), Papers in Honor of Edith Porada.'; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 2.88 grams, 14 mm



UK private collection, acquired 1980-1983. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in January 1989. 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.

Tapering blade with raised midrib developing to a short tang pierced at the finial. 218 grams, 32.5 cm



Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. 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.

Around the 17th century BC, Hyksos craftsmen apparently invented daggers with an elongated, narrow blade of a subtriangular shape, sometimes with a mid-rib, but more often flat, and a handle cast together with the blade, flat, fairly wide, with a pronounced, sometimes sharply, more often smoothly, pommel and crossguard. Such daggers very quickly gained popularity in Mesopotamia and further to the east and northeast, as well as to the northwest, in the Aegean, and became almost the most widespread type of dagger in these regions up until the middle of the 1st millennium B.C.

Comprising: an awl, a chisel, various pins and pin finials. 102 grams total, 31-93 mm



Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. 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.

Similar complete pins excavated by the Italian Archaeological Mission in Homs have been subdivided into two well-known categories, the melon headed pins and the simple pins, both here represented. This distinction in shape corresponds to a distinction in size: although the diameters are more or less the same.