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LOT 0893
Luristan Fantastic Animal Terminal
13TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.
3 1/2 in. (4 1/2 in.) (78 grams, 89 mm (224 grams total, 11.4 cm high including stand)).
A bronze finial comprising a ring surmounted by a facing ibex head with the horns extending to two beast-heads emerging from the sides of the ring; small retaining ledge to the reverse; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceAcquired 1990s.
From an important Paris gallery, France.
Ex Parisian collection.
This piece likely formed part of a horse harness.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0893
Luristan Fantastic Animal Terminal
Estimate £250 - 350€290 - 410 (for guidance only)$340 - 470 (for guidance only)
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Sassanian Stamp Seal Collection
3rd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
A group of four plano-convex stone stamp seals, each drilled for suspension and bearing an incuse design to base: a quadruped; cockerel with scorpion; ritual symbols; accompanied by a museum-quality impression of each seal. 26 grams total, 15-22 mm
From a UK private collection, 1980-1983. -
Nabataean Painted Jug
1st century B.C.-1st century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £520
A small terracotta jug with strap handle above the shoulder, painted frond patterns to the body, shoulder and neck. 76 grams, 12.4 cm high
From an important collection of Holy Land pottery formed pre 1988, thence by descent. -
Mesopotamian Pictographic Administrative Tablet
Uruk III, circa 3000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,940
A bifacial, lentoid-section rectangular clay tablet with rounded corners and short sides, medial horizontal line to each face, with hand-drawn pictographs above and below, a count of sheep and caprids. 42 grams, 66 mm wide
Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992. 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 early 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 no.11637-198551.
Early writing was used primarily as a means of recording economic data; this tablet likely records deliveries and distributions of grain. At the end of the 4th millennium B.C., written language developed in Mesopotamia as pictographs, later evolving into abstract forms called cuneiform. Pictographs were drawn in the clay with a pointed implement. Circular impressions alongside the pictographs represented numerical symbols. Cuneiform (meaning wedge-shaped) script was written by pressing a reed pen or stylus with a wedge-shaped tip into a clay tablet.