Early Bronze Age Silver Idol

CIRCA 2400-2100 B.C.

2 1/2 in. (5.34 grams, 62 mm).

Violin-shaped with round body, long neck and stylised head, symbolising a female body, perforated with two holes at the top representing the eyes, embossed with dots around the perimeter.

Provenance

From a private family collection formed since the early 19th century, thence by descent.
Property of a New Zealand legal professional.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12321-223719.

Literature

Cf. for similar idols but in stone and clay, Bilgi, Ö., Anthropomorphic Representations in Anatolia before the Classical Age, Istanbul, 2014, figs. 792-800; for metallic idols of very similar (although not completely identical) shape cf. Zimmermann, T., ‘Anatolia and the Balkans, once again, ring-shaped idols from Western Asia and a critical reassessment of some ‘Early Bronze Age items from Ikiztepe, Turkey’ in Oxford Journal of Archaeology, January, 2007, pp.25-32; Atakuman, Ç., ‘Figurines of the Anatolian Early Bronze Age: the assemblage from Koçumbeli-Ankara’ in Anatolian Studies, 67, 2017, pp.85-108.

CONDITION

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LOT 0253