Details

LOT 0239

Mesopotamian Silver Stamp Seal with Janiform Head of the God Pazuzu

1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.

1 3/8 in. (25.80 grams, 36 mm).

Columnar in form with discoid base supporting a pair of stylised head with almond-shaped eyes, button nose, prominent elongated chin and triangular lobes; suspension loop to the top.

Provenance

Ex Mayfair, London, UK, collection, 1979-1990s.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13072-249423.

Literature

Cf. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, catalog number YPM BC 017054, similar in The Israeli Museum, item number 2009-926.

Footnotes

Pazuzu was an Assyrian and Babylonian demonic god who was represented with a canine head, scaly body, a snake-headed penis, the talons of a bird, and usually four wings. He is often regarded as an evil underworld demon, but he seems also to have played a beneficent role as a protector against pestilential winds; a bronze figure of Pazuzu in the Louvre, (accession number MNB 467) is inscribed, ‘I am Pazuzu, son of Hanpa, king of the evil spirits of the air which issues violently from mountains, causing much havoc.’ His close association with Lamashtu, a fierce demon goddess responsible for child mortality, resulted in him being used to counter her powers and send her back to the underworld. Amulets of Pazuzu were positioned in dwellings to act as protective barriers to evil powers, or were often in the form of just a head, as in this example, and were hung around the necks of pregnant women. Pazuzu is popularly known today as the demon from the 1973 film ‘The Exorcist’.