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LOT 0213
Mitanni Hematite Cylinder Seal with Griffin Attacking Quadruped
1500-1200 B.C.
3/4 in. (6.2 grams, 19 mm).
With animals and standing figure, restrung pair of red stone beads, old handwritten label '1614'; accompanied by a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Cylinder Seal of Hematite, 19.5.x9.5 mm. The design consists of one item occupying the full height of the space, the other items being in effect in two registers. The human figure is full-height, wearing a robe to the ground, holding one hand to the waist, the other up. The lower register consists mainly of two recumbent horned animals, each facing backwards towards a sacred- tree. To the right is a smaller quadruped, to the left a rosette and star. Above a griffin is attacking a quadruped, while behind. The griffin is another quadruped, but horned and recumbent. This seal is Mitanni Elaborate Style, c. 1500-1200 B.C. from Syria or north Mesopotamia. It is cut, as normal for this type of seal, mainly with the cutting wheel and drill, and is a fine example of its kind.'; accompanied by a museum-quality impression. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceUK private collection, acquired 1980-1983.
Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in 1991.
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.
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LOT 0213
Mitanni Hematite Cylinder Seal with Griffin Attacking Quadruped
Sold for (Inc. bp): £650
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South Arabian Bronze Bowl with Hunting Scene and Inscription
Circa 3rd century B.C.-2nd century A.D.Estimate: £7,000 - 9,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £3,333
Broad and squat with impressed guilloche below the inner rim, repoussé frieze with fleeing ibex attacked by a gryphon and kneeling archer to the rear; central rosette; seven incised characters to inner face and four to outer face. 277 grams, 15.5 cm
The Saleh Collection, Germany, formed 1972. Private collection, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12809-241324. 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.
The presence of decorated bronze bowls during the later Pre-Islamic period, mainly in the territories of the modern Emirates, is well documented. Many decorated bowls and bowl fragments were discovered at Mleiha, one or more possible fragments were found at ed-Dur and a single bowl comes from a Pre-Islamic period C tomb in Dibba. They are also similar to the so-called Phoenician - or more correctly Levantine - bowls produced in the 9th-early 7th century B.C. They combine local Levantine elements with imagery borrowed from Mesopotamia and Egypt, and local Arabian themes, such as camel and horse riding, often composed in radial zones. -
Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Collection
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Comprising: three large triangular arrowheads with barbed shoulders and rounded midrib. 51 grams total, 9.7-10.5 cm
Acquired in the 1990s. Ex Abelita family collection. 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.
The arrowheads belong to the type V of the Khorasani classification: subtype C, arrowheads with elongated, triangular shape with barbed shoulders and convex sides, and a raised midrib with a sharp central line. These types of arrowheads were commonly used in Anatolia and Mesopotamia from the 2nd millennium B.C., but apparently their employment began earlier in this area, where types like these occur alongside the non-barbed, predominantly ribbed and tanged types. -
Mesopotamian Stone Pig Amulet
Uruk, 4th millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
Reclining pig in profile with an elongated snout, circular recess for an eye insert, pierced through the centre; incised lines on the reverse. 16.1 grams, 42 mm
From a Mayfair, London, UK, gallery, 1990s. From a private UK collection. 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.
