Early Dynastic Lapis Lazuli Master of Animals Type Cylinder Seal

Pillow-shaped with impressed text to both faces; accompanied by an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Clay tablet 58x64 mm. with 26 Compartments and One Column of Sumerian Cuneiform. This is oblong with rounded sides and edges. each side is divided into 3 columns, and all but the last two are filled with script. This is some kind of legal document from a Sumerian city not so far known for such texts. The first five columns list items, each with a number and followed by a compartment of a different kind. The last column, on the reverse, is different from the others in giving the name and title of an official who in some way presided over the transaction here recorded. Since it is without exact parallel, it is difficult to translate even when the text is clear (there is some surface damage and one corner is broken off). The items given start with "one donkey", and include a quantity of barley (3 gur of barley), "one shekel of refined silver," and "two iku" (acres of agricultural land) is the last item. after which the document concludes: "Mr Enshaga was their seller." Other items are followed by, apparently, personal names, but only once at the end does "was their seller" appears. More study and more similar documents are needed to clear up the problems. The last column begins clearly enough: Ege-anda, Nugig but the final line is not clear. Nugig is a title of a priestess, but only here, it seems, is such a lady a high official giving her blessing to the sale just recorded. This is a most interesting Sumerian document dating to the later early Dynastic periods, c. 2500 B.C.' 95 grams, 64 mm



Ex private collection of Mr S H; thence by descent,1980-1990. Accompanied by an original typed and signed scholarly note by the late W.G. Lambert, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993. 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.

With frieze depicting a winged ram beneath the 'star of Ishtar' with four columns of cuneiform text; mounted on a reinforced card with impression and collector's handwritten notes. 36 grams total, 12.1 x 9.1 cm



Antonovitch Gallery, Paris, 1978. Chesnes Gallery, Lyon, 1982. Acquired at Drouot, Paris, 2022. Private collection, London. 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.

Zoomorphic stamp with loop handle to the reverse; accompanied by an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Stamp Seal of Bronze. 27.5x35x13 mm. This bears the shape of what is depicted. The face is flat and compartmented, and the back is flat also with look of sheet metal for suspension. The design shows the face of a horned quadruped frontally, with drooping ears and stout horns, but with one big central eye. This comes from west central Asia and dates to c. 2300-2000 B.C. It is a rare design and in good condition.' 12.5 grams, 31 mm



Acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s. Ex property of a West London businessman. Academically researched and catalogued by the late Professor Lambert in the early 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.