Mesopotamian Black Stone Seal with Lion and Male Figure

Sheet gold appliqué with repoussé detailing of a running boar in profile with hatching to the body; to the reverse, two applied mounting strips; mounted on a custom-made stand. 2.07 grams, 48 mm (449 grams total, 15 cm including stand)



UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Private collection, London, UK. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Comprising: a fusiform ceramic bead with impressed cuneiform text in four columns; group of twenty-seven bronze coins and fragments; in old cardboard soap box with handwritten legend inside lid 'Bought from an old beggar Arab at Murood, in desert'; wrapped in fragments of old English-language newspaper dated March 31, 1928. 145 grams total including box, 1-56 mm



Early 20th century private collection, acquired March 1925. Subsequently Simon Chorley Art & Antiques Ltd, Gloucestershire, 23rd September 2010. Private collection, acquired from the above. In a box marked 'Found by ourselves in Desert at Murmood (?) March 1925'. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Depicting a bull standing with legs splayed and firmly planted, tail extending to the ground, billetted bands to the neck, chest, shoulders, rump and hips, rosette sun wheel to each shoulder and hip; mounted on the brow a tubular socket, extended stem with three median collars, and three more at the top; three radiating feline figures each supporting a post with gusseted ring above. 3.44 kg, 42.8 cm



Acquired before 1983. Ex London gallery, 1990s. Private collection, London. 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 a search certificate number no.12796-241374. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The artefact belongs to a series of bronze works attesting the wide regional trade existing in the mid to late 3rd millennium B.C. in the Mesopotamian lands. They were realised with human or animal figures planted on a rectangular stand with a massive armature or candelabra issuing from the back.