Large West Central Asian Bronze Ear-Shaped Seal Matrix

Modelled with a thin, tubular body and elongated, splayed legs, a short neck supporting an elongated head with bulbous eyes and curving horns, a tubular projection above the rump. 20.9 grams, 51 mm



Ex Abelita collection, 1990s.

One of the largest known examples, comprising a thin-walled body and flaring foot, a separately made long spout rivetted to the body; the U-shaped spout resembling the beak of a bird with stylised linear feather detailing to the gracefully curving neck, eleven domed rivets to the edges; the base of the foot with concentric circle decoration. 735 grams, 46 cm



Believed to have been acquired in the 1960s-1970s. From the collection of Mr Jay Gluck (1927–2000) and Mrs Sumi Hiramoto Gluck. Malter Galleries Inc., Auction 80, The Gluck Collection of Ancient Art, 7 April 2002, no.54. Alexander Ancient Art, Netherlands. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13314-257665.

Jay Gluck (1927–2000) was an American author, art historian, and orientalist who spent much of his life in Japan and the wider Asia-Pacific region. A passionate collector and scholar of Asian art and culture, he is perhaps best known for his landmark publication Japan Inside Out (1964), and later A Survey of Persian Handicrafts (1977), co-authored with his wife Sumi Hiramoto Gluck, a Japanese-born artist and cultural collaborator who shared his deep engagement with Eastern art traditions. Together, the Glucks assembled a distinguished collection reflecting their combined expertise and decades of firsthand engagement with the arts of Asia and the ancient world. Items from their collection are held with great regard for the couple's scholarly rigour and the depth of provenance they represent.

Rectangular in plan and triangular in section with a median hole, flat face with incuse frieze of ibexes. 38.9 grams, 61 mm



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

Some stamp seals from the period of transition between Jemdat Nasr and the Early Dynastic Period of Ur represent animals, and some scholars suggest that they were probably used as pendants or amulets. The animals are somewhat simplified and often reduced to mere lines: a file of animals usually forms the basis of such a pattern.