Loading, please wait...
Details
LOT 0867
Mesopotamian Cuneiform Tablet Fragment Relating to Inventory of Sheep
MID 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.
2 1/2 in. (28 grams, 64 mm wide).
A bifacial clay tablet with cuneiform text to both faces, an accounting tablet concerning an inventory of various types of sheep associated with names of persons.
Provenance
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.
Literature
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, accession number 11.217.15, for similar.
CONDITIONVETTING:
TimeLine 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:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
LOT 0867
Mesopotamian Cuneiform Tablet Fragment Relating to Inventory of Sheep
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,105
RELATED LOTS
-
Western Asiatic Silver RepoussÉ Mount with Lion Attacking an Antelope
Circa 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £16
A domed silver mount displaying a repoussé scene composed of a lion and antelope in combat. 6.13 grams, 42 mm
Essex gallery, early 2000s. -
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. -
Large 'King Nebuchadnezzar the Great' Brick from the Wall of Babylon
604-562 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,980
A large fired clay brick from the Wall of Babylon bearing six lines of stamped Babylonian cuneiform inscription to one face which reads: 'AG - ku -dur-ri-URU' / 'LUGAL ba-bi-lu' / 'za-ni-nu é-sag-ila' / 'u e-zi-da IBILA' / 'SAG.KAL. sa AG-IBILA-URU' / 'LUGAL ba-bi-lu ana-ku', which translates: 'Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who provides for Esagila and Ezida, the eldest son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon, am I'; traces of bitumen on the blank side; accompanied by an old label which reads: 'Brick from the Wall of Babylon / Presented by W.Bro. Gentle-Cackett Secretary Bible Lands Mission / The impression records the fact that it was built by King Nebuchadnezzar [II]'. 13.6 kg, 33.5 x 33 cm
Ex Reverend Samuel W. Gentle-Cackett (1871-1943), in the 1930s. Gentle-Cackett was the secretary of the Bible Lands Missions’ Aid Society, 76 The Strand, London, WC2 (1904-1943), author of Palestine Portrayed, 1936, and Worshipful Brother of the Lodge of Sincerity 174. This brick formed part of an old collection of Masonic ephemera, and is believed to have originated from the Lodge of Sincerity 174. Property of a Sussex, UK, teacher. Accompanied by a copy of the book Palestine Portrayed, 1936, written by S.W. Gentle-Cackett. Accompanied by copies of the relevant pages from the book They Wrote on Clay, showing similar bricks in situ.
Genesis 11:3: "And they said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly', and they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar." In the 1920s, Cackett read reports of Christian Armenians being orphaned as a result of attacks from Turks and in response he set up a refuge in Bedfont, where he was able to rehome 1500 children.