Hittite Limestone Altar

Comprising a leaf-shaped blade with a midrib and a long tapering socket. 128 grams, 31 cm



Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s.

The spear, belonging to type 3 of the Khorasani classification, was used by chariot fighters to strike each other or the enemy infantry from above. Similar specimens with longer sockets were excavated by Negahban in the Amlash area. According to Moorey, sockets as long, if not longer than the blade, are a characteristic of Iranian spearheads in the late 2nd and early 1st millennium B.C. A similar spearhead from the Tappeh Sialk has been dated to the 9th-7th century B.C.

Carved in the round bust with heavily hatched brow and cheeks, D-shaped eyes, snubbed feline nose, ellipsoid mouth gaping with teeth exposed, segmented panel to chest. 47 grams, 37 mm



European art market, 1997. Acquired by the present owner from the above. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate no.12596-232196.

Pazuzu, in the old Mesopotamian mythology, is described as ‘the son of Hanbu and king of wind demons’. Amulets with images of his full body or, more often, just his head, were common in the early first millennium B.C. Pazuzu was most popular in the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian periods, from about the late 8th century B.C. through the 6th century B.C.

Pentagonal in plan with scooped ogival upper edge, shallow sides and slider-bar to reverse; high-relief decorative motifs of rosette and radiating stems and leaves. 18.25 grams, 43 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.