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LOT 0350
Large Stone Age Polished Kneeling Pregnant Goddess Idol
NEOLITHIC PERIOD, CIRCA 6TH-4TH MILLENNIUM B.C. OR LATER
6 in. (1.07 kg total, 15.3 cm high including stand).
A carved and polished figurine with rounded head and broad shoulders, folded arms resting on each side of the protruding belly, legs folded beneath the body; mounted on a custom-made stand. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
Cf. Morris, D., The Art of Ancient Cyprus, Oxford, 1985, figs.108-109, p.119, for similar idols; Various, Idoles, Au commencement etait l’image, A la Reine Margot, 22 Novembre 1990-28 Fevrier 1991, Paris, 1990, figs.10-11, for similar; also see Caldwell, Duncan, The Use of Animals in Birth Protection Rituals and Possible Uses of Stone Figurines from the Central Sahel, 2015 winter issue, vol.48, no.4, Nov., pp.14-25.
FootnotesMost scholars consider these as symbols of the fertility cult and as evidence of the existence of a matriarchal society as a form of organisation of the earliest human society. The people of the Stone Age may have considered figures such as this to represent women and mothers with their life-giving powers, or as depictions of the ancestors.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0350
Large Stone Age Polished Kneeling Pregnant Goddess Idol
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,170
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Stone Age French Polished Green Stone Axehead
Neolithic Period, circa 4th-3rd millennium B.C. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £169
Slender with a narrow rounded butt and shallow cutting edge; chipped; old collector's label 'H Veysie, F[rance]'. 369 grams, 16.5 cm
Believed to be ex H. Veysie collection, France. From the private collection of Kenneth Machin (1936-2020), Buckinghamshire, UK; with collection no.N187; his collection of antiquities and natural history was formed since 1948; thence by descent. -
Stone Age Acheulean Dark Red Quartzite 'Homo Erectus' Handaxe
Lower Palaeolithic Period, 1,000,000-500,000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
With rounded cutting edge. 452 grams, 11.4 cm
Found Northern Sahara. From a collection formed during the 1970s-1980s and acquired on the British art market. By descent to the current owner in 1988. From the collection of a South West London, UK, specialist Stone Age collector. -
Stone Age Tilemsi Valley Flint Knife Group
Mesolithic Period, 12,000-4000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Mainly leaf-shaped two-edged blades with rounded butt. 125 grams total, 63-88 mm
Found Tilemsi Valley, Mali, West Africa. From a collection formed during the 1970s-1980s and acquired on the British art market. By descent to the current owner in 1988. From the collection of a South West London, UK, specialist Stone Age collector.
