Elamite Silver Flower Pendant Necklace

Mixed group of tubular beads with granulation or incised segmentation. 3.17 grams total, 4-8 mm



From a late Japanese specialist collector, 1970-2000s.

With a thin-walled body and flaring foot, a separately made long spout rivetted to the body; the U-shaped spout resembling the beak of a bird with stylised linear feather detailing to the gracefully curving neck, eleven domed rivets to the edges; the base of the foot with concentric circle decoration. 736 grams, 47 cm



Acquired in the 1960s. From the collection of Mr Jay Gluck (1927-2000) & Mrs Sumi Hiramoto Gluck. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12061-214190.

Jay Gluck was an American archaeologist and specialist in the history of Persian art. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1949 in Archaeology and Middle Eastern Studies. In 1966 he became director of the Asia Institute of the Pahlavi University in Iran. He is also well known for republishing the work of Arthur Upham Pope, A Survey of Persian Art.

Modelled as a duck with its head resting along its voluminous back, base engraved with a crescent, dots, lines and triangles. 11.8 grams, 28 mm



Collected from 1969-1999. From the collection of the late Mr S.M., London, UK.

There are references to keeping ducks in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia from the third millennium B.C. onwards. One of the most common shapes for Near Eastern weights was 'the sleeping duck'. Representation demonstrates that the duck served chiefly as a meat source, even though a certain cultic significance must also be presumed: the crescent here engraved could be connected with the cult of Ishtar.