Early Dynastic Terracotta Administrative Cuneiform Tablet Recording Livestock and their Owners

IIIB, 2400-2340 B.C.

3 in. (202 grams, 78 mm).

Pillow-shaped tablet with dense cuneiform text to two broad faces and one edge, concerning the listing of 146 sheep and their owners or shepherds.

Provenance

with Laemmle Gallery, San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles, USA.
Acquired from the above in the early 1970s.
with Bonhams, London, 13 April 2011, no.133.
Private central European collection.

Accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12121-218147.

Literature

See Pomponio, F. and Visicato, G. I mezzi di pagamento nei contratti di Fara e il loro rapport con il funzionario bala, Studia Asiana, 7, pp.149-166, Roma, 2011 for discussion of territorial sales and their documentation in cuneiform ceramic records.

CONDITION

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LOT 0271