LOT 0256

Large Bactrian Black Chlorite 'Hand Bag' Ceremonial Weight

3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.

11 1/8 in. (6.25 kg total, 28.3 cm high including stand).

D-shaped in profile with a round-section loop; obverse with a reserved scene of two lions with hatched detailing to the fur advancing towards a small quadruped placed perpendicular to them; reverse with a median eagle with wings extended and feather detailing, flanked by rearing serpents and a scorpion; mounted on a custom-made stand.

with Gallery Rosen Ancient Art, Tel Aviv, 10 November 1969.
Ex London, UK, gallery, 1971-early 2000s.
London, UK, collection.

Accompanied by a copy of an original invoice from Gallery Rosen Ancient Art, 10 November 1969.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13246-252973.

Cf. Various, 7000 Years of Iranian Art, Exhibition catalogue, Smithsonian Institute, 1964, p.54 & p.118, illustration no.11; and see Vidale, M., ‘The Function of a Chlorite Hand-Bag of the Halil Rud Civilization as inferred from its Wear Traces’ in Iranian Journal of Archaeological Studies, 2, 2012, pp.1-11, fig.1; Vidale, M., Treasures from the Oxus: The Art and Civilisation of Central Asia, London, 2017, pp.44-51, figs.41-45, for a variety of stones and shapes.

Among the most iconic intercultural style objects are the so-called 'lock' or 'handbag' weights. They have been found in a variety of different colourful stones, such as breccia, chlorite, fossiliferous limestone, calcite and onyx. At the beginning, these objects were probably not weights at all, but were likely badges of high office, carried to indicate authority. Similar objects have been found throughout Mesopotamia, the islands of the Persian Gulf, on the Iranian steppe, and in the Indus Valley.