Mesopotamian Alabaster Lenticular Necklace Bead Group

CIRCA 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.

1/8 - 3/8 in. (53 grams total, 3-10 cm).

Comprising a quantity of disc-shaped beads, each pierced for stringing. [No Reserve]

Provenance

UK gallery, early 2000s.

Literature

Cf. Golani, A., Jewelry from the Iron Age II Levant, Zurich, 2013, fig.30.3, for similar beads

Footnotes

While slaves and the poorest people wore simple, functional clothes, the wealthiest classes of Mesopotamia could afford beautifully made jewellery. The royal tombs from Sumeria dating from around 2500 B.C. included an abundance of beaded necklaces, rings, bracelets for the wrist and ankles, stickpins, and other jewellery, made of gold and silver set with decorative gemstones such as deep blue lapis lazuli, red carnelian, white alabaster, and sparkling crystals. In the Lugale-Mythos the Alabaster is personified like a hero: ‘(And) the hero Alabaster, these heroes plundered the cities for him (= Asag)’. The hematite and the limestone/alabaster, two stones with a light and dark base colour, were used as aids in a divinatory ritual in which they were probably connected with the favourable and unfavourable answers to oracle inquiries.

CONDITION

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LOT 1123