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LOT 0223
Middle Assyrian Brick-Shaped Tablet with Funerary Inscription for Adad-Shumu-lesir’s Tomb
1363-912 B.C.
5 5/8 in. (333 grams, 14.3 cm).
A rectangular brick-shaped tablet, inscribed in cuneiform script across three vertical faces, with a single column to the fourth and a continuation of text across the top surface; the inscription a funerary curse relating to the tomb of Adad-šumu-lešir, warning against interference with the burial, reading in part:
"As for a stranger, or somebody who would approach that tomb, or would bring up a corpse out of it and bury his own within, or would touch the silver inside—Adad, Šamaš, or Nergal will fill his house and field with shortage, collapse, and murder. He will repay the property of that tomb sevenfold, dedicating it to Šuriha. For the offspring of Adad-šumu-lešir he shall be undone for taking out and bringing down objects in the tomb, and for burying another body within it. Month Kalmartu, third day, eponymy of Aššur-mušezib.”
Acquired in the 1996.
Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent.
Private collection, since the late 1990s.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12872-241667.
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.
Funerary inscriptions of this type are extremely rare survivals, serving both as legal texts and spiritual safeguards, invoking the major deities Adad, Šamaš, and Nergal to enforce the curse.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0223
Middle Assyrian Brick-Shaped Tablet with Funerary Inscription for Adad-Shumu-lesir’s Tomb
Estimate £6,000 - 8,000€6,960 - 9,280 (for guidance only)$8,100 - 10,800 (for guidance only)
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Neo Babylonian Rock Crystal Duck Weight
8th-6th century B.C. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £221
Carved with the head resting along the spine, flat base. 9.24 grams, 27 mm
UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Private collection, London, UK. 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. -
Large Luristan Bronze Pin
8th-7th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £46
Comprising a long tapering shank, pierced plate and incised diagonal decoration to the top, poppyhead finial. 80 grams, 36.3 cm
London art market, 1990s. Private collection, UK. 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. -
Western Asiatic White Stone and Shell Bead Necklace String
1st millennium B.C. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £33
Composed of tabular beads interspersed with smaller oblate beads, restrung to a Y-shape with a shell pendant. 15.66 grams, 31 cm
From the London, UK, art market in the 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.
