Mesopotamian Mottled Grey Stone Macehead

Bulbous body with four stub legs, tall neck and internal strainer, tall scooped edge to the rim, loop handle to the rear; body and neck painted with geometric motifs, red paint on the base and legs. 1.16 kg, 32.3 cm



UK collection, 1990s. Acquired on the UK art market, before 2000. Private collection, Mr M.V., a London-based businessman.

Artefacts from Amlash date from the late second millennium B.C. through to the Partho-Sasanian period, with most dated to the 9th and 8th centuries B.C. Zoomorphic drinking or ritual vessels are abundant in Amlash pottery and usually feature depictions of animals common to that region. Such vessels have been recovered across Mesopotamia and Anatolia, and they were known as Bibru. They were produced as ceremonial drinking vessels, dedicated to specific deities, but they might also have served as drinking vessels for the social elite and royal family members.

Broad and shallow with incised concentric rings to the inner face. 220 grams, 19 cm



Ex 1990s collection and with a central London gallery.

Including triangular, leaf-shaped, barbed, paddle-shaped arrowheads with a flat, comparatively wide mid-rib, and others. 205 grams total, 37-93 mm



Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. 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.

Fourteen arrowheads of this group were typical of the Old Babylonian Empire. The shoulders were pronounced and the arrowhead had a rectangular-section tapering tang. This simple form was popular across the ancient Near East, and similar items have been found in the Holy Land.