Large Holy Land Pottery Cup

Disc with reserved menorah flanked by characters. 3.19 grams, 13 mm



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

Comprising a quantity of disc-shaped beads, each pierced for stringing. 53 grams total, 3-10 cm



UK gallery, early 2000s.

While slaves and the poorest people wore simple, functional clothes, the wealthiest classes of Mesopotamia could afford beautifully made jewellery. The royal tombs from Sumeria dating from around 2500 B.C. included an abundance of beaded necklaces, rings, bracelets for the wrist and ankles, stickpins, and other jewellery, made of gold and silver set with decorative gemstones such as deep blue lapis lazuli, red carnelian, white alabaster, and sparkling crystals. In the Lugale-Mythos the Alabaster is personified like a hero: ‘(And) the hero Alabaster, these heroes plundered the cities for him (= Asag)’. The hematite and the limestone/alabaster, two stones with a light and dark base colour, were used as aids in a divinatory ritual in which they were probably connected with the favourable and unfavourable answers to oracle inquiries.

Carved in the round with fine facial detailing; flaring nostrils and deep-set mouth, beard beneath the chin; inlaid eyes with raised black lids framing the large pupils, curving horns with ribbed detailing picked out in black pigment; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 1.4 kg total, 23.2 cm high including stand



Acquired on the London art market, 1993. Property of a gentleman. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12069-214290.

In Mesopotamian art, wild sheep, ibexes, gazelles, antelopes, and goats of various species are frequently represented in art from the earliest times until the Parthian period.