Mesopotamian Terracotta Cuneiform School Exercise Tablet

Biconvex in profile with incised winged-scarab motif to upper face; pierced longitudinally for stringing; later silver mount with granule clusters. 16.4 grams, 34 mm



From the collection of a late London gentleman; by descent 1970 onwards. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12425-225392.

Discoid in plan and lentoid in section, bearing cuneiform scribal work in large characters on one side. 250 grams, 10.3 cm



From a specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992. Thence by descent to family members and dispersed in 1988 in London and Geneva.

Such scribal tablets are always of this round shape. Type IV tablets, also known as 'lentils', are circular tablets containing one or a few lines of a composition written out once by the teacher and then a second time by the student, either underneath (typical of Nippur tablets), or on the reverse. This would appear to be an example of the former.

Openwork discoid seal with anthropomorphic motif; accompanied by an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Stamp Seal of Bronze. 57x59x17 mm. This is round, with flat compartmented and open-work face. The back has a stout suspension loop. The design on the face is of a standing creature -- human with bird's head -- and filling shapes. This comes from West Central Asia and dates to c. 2300-1900 B.C. It is a rare design and the seal is in fair condition: some of the edge of the plain outer band is lost.' 53 grams, 58 mm



Ex Signo collection, the property of a West London businessman, formed in the late 1980s-early 1990s; collection number Y-905, academically researched and catalogued by the late Professor Lambert in the early 1990s.