Details

LOT 0247

Mesopotamian Bronze Standing Zoomorphic Torch Bearer

EARLY DYNASTIC II, MID 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.

6 7/8 in. (2.28 kg, 17.5 cm).

Comprising a bulbous body with addorsed vulpine heads, standing on a rectangular base and with a circular cage supported on four curved arms above the back; each head with sockets to the eyes to accept inset cabochons.

Provenance

Acquired before 1983.
Ex London gallery, 1990s.

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.12695-236266.
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.

Literature

Cf. a similar vessel stand with ibex support in the Metropolitan Museum, accession number 1974.190; Frankfort, H., More Sculpture from the Diyala Region, OIP 60, Chicago, 1943, pls.33-34, 55-57; 91,95; Carter, M.L., Goldstein, S., Harper, P.O., Kawami, T.S., Meyers, P., Splendours of the Ancient East, Antiquities from the al-Sabah collection, London, 2013, figs.1 and nos.1-2-3-4, for metal figures made in similar style; Prell, S., ‘Buckle up and fasten that belt! Metal belts in the early and Middle Bronze Age’ in Ägypten und Levante/Egypt and the Levant, vol.29 (2019), pp.303-330.

Footnotes

The object belongs to a series of artefacts which attest the wide regional trade existing in the mid to late 3rd millennium B.C. in the Mesopotamian lands. Stands of this type were intended to hold offering bowls or lamps.