Indus Valley Terracotta Offering Stand

Comprising polished beads in various sizes with etched geometric designs. 7.68 grams total, 3-15 mm



Ex UK gallery, early 2000s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Etched carnelian beads are characteristic of the Indus Valley culture and have been produced since the third millennium B.C. They are a typical product of the Harappa culture, but they are also attested in later millennia and produced elsewhere in Southeast Asia. The oldest specimens come from the Indus Valley and from Mesopotamia. A few specimens were found in the so-called royal cemetery of Ur, where they were identified in the excavation publication as coming from India.

With slightly sloping sidewall, flat shoulder and everted rim to the broad mouth; painted geometric bands and zoomorphic panels to side and shoulder; chipped, repaired. 406 grams, 12.8 cm wide



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Drum-shaped in profile with painted inner rim, painted geometric panels to sidewall. 210 grams, 11.8 cm



Ex M. Schoyen collection, 2000s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.