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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.
ProvenanceEx 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.
Cf. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, catalog number YPM BC 017054, similar in The Israeli Museum, item number 2009-926.
FootnotesPazuzu 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’.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0239
Mesopotamian Silver Stamp Seal with Janiform Head of the God Pazuzu
Estimate £3,000 - 4,000€3,480 - 4,640 (for guidance only)$4,050 - 5,400 (for guidance only)
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South Arabian Alabaster Male Head
Late 2nd-3rd century A.D.Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,222
Carved in the round with deep-set eyes and broad aquiline nose; hair and short beard modelled with stippled surface; slender neck; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 1.17 kg total, 18 cm high including stand
Formerly private European collection. with Christie's, New York, 7 December 1995, no.116. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12262-222127. -
Luristan Bronze Spearhead
1200-1100 B.C.Estimate: £250 - 350 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £125
With an ovate blade, central rib and curved shoulders, the lozenge-section long shaft tapering towards the end, a rectangular tang with a bent tip. 830 grams, 40 cm
Ex Abelita family collection, 1980s-2000s.
The spearhead represents a slender variant of type 1 of the Khorasani classification. The type 1 was characterised by a bent tang. It was the evolution of a typology which began much earlier in Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the type 4 of the Stronach classification, with a straight tang and square section, usually thickened at the base with a button tang. -
Western Asiatic Pottery Pouring Vessel
1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
Globular in profile with slender angled spout, conical mouth and strap handle. 188 grams, 10 cm
From the collection of a gentleman, 1988-2000s.
