Luristan Votive Axehead

A terracotta vase with bulbous body, small disc base, trumpet-shaped mouth; bands of painted rings to the neck, frieze of birds and leaves to the shoulder, rim chipped. 285 grams, 13.5 cm high

Fine condition.

Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.

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.

A gold pendant composed of a tubular body wrapped around a banded agate or other stone tubular bead, three projections below with conical tops, granulated lozenge to one face enclosing a central dome; ribbed suspension loop. 2.22 grams, 15 mm



Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.