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LOT 1335
Luristan Bronze Pin Collection
2ND-1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
5 1/2 - 18 3/8 in. (714 grams total, 14.1-41.7 cm).
Comprising: six specimens with a tapering round-section shank, balustered finial topped with a conical head, fastening holes; four specimens with tapering round section, poppy-shaped head and flared collar beneath. [11, No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom a collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.
LiteratureCf. Muscarella, O. W., Bronze and Iron: Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1988, items 35-39, 208, 290-291, for the types.
FootnotesAccording to the study of Moorey, the knobbed pins from Iran are documented from the earliest periods of metallurgy, increasing in quantity during the late 2nd millennium, to reach the peak of the production from the early 1st millennium. Pins were used as hair and clothing fasteners, but it is not excluded that they could have been used by women as personal means of defence in dangerous situations.
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AUCTIONS:
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Western Asiatic Bronze Ring with Blue Glass Gemstone
14th-16th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
With a slender hoop supporting a raised conical bezel set with a dark blue glass intaglio. 2.94 grams, 23.66 mm overall, 16.52 mm internal diameter (approximate size British M, USA 6, Europe 12.46, Japan 12)
Private collection formed since the 1940s. UK art market. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman. -
Mesopotamian Alabaster Offering Dish with Lion Handle
2nd-early 1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £18,000 - 24,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £10,000
An Aramean rectangular dish with sloping sides, an inward-facing goat-head at each corner; handle formed as a recumbent lion biting the rim; each beast with recessed eyes to accept inserts; ropework band to the underside. 698 grams, 22 cm
Windermere Collection, Germany, 1960s. American collection, Phillips, 1960s-1980s. with Fortuna Fine Arts, 2012. From the S.M. collection, 2012-2016. From an important London collection, 2016. Private collection. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00118561. 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.12164-218579.
The Aramean civilisation produced superb specimens of vessels, in which the lion, symbol of royal power, was one of the most relevant decorative motifs. Vessels of this typology are already known from the Anatolian culture of Kültepe, the first Hittite capital, since the Middle Bronze Age. Also the culture of Ugarit (Ras Shamarra) produced cups with similar lion heads, in a period of 1500 and 1300 B.C. -
Large Proto-Sumerian Pictographic Tablet for Large Amounts of Grain
Uruk III, circa 3200-3000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,160
Biconvex in profile with impressed lines dividing the face into zones, each with impressed dots, triangles or other symbols, some extending onto the edges. 68 grams, 55 mm
From a specialised collection of cuneiform texts, formed in the 1950s-1990s. The property of a London gentleman and housed in London, thence by descent to family members. Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and 1990s. The collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12242-220893.
