Details

LOT 1263

Neo-Babylonian Chalcedony Duck Weight with Engraved Figure

CIRCA 8TH-6TH CENTURY B.C.

3/4 in. (5.07 grams, 21 mm).

The animal carved with its head and neck resting along its back; stylised figure with crescent horns or headdress engraved to base; pierced for suspension. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From an early 20th century collection, Caernarfon, North Wales, UK.

Literature

See Anavian, H., Habib Anavian Collection, Ancient Near Eastern Cylinder and Stamp Seals from the Early 6th Millennium B.C. to 651 A.D., New York, 1976, nos.423-425, for similar crescent symbols on Sassanian seals; for Iron Age duck-weights of similar shape see Zaccagnini, C., ‘Duck Weights from Karkemish: a Historical Analysis’ (tab.XIII-XXI)’ in Orientalia, Vol.88, Nova Series, Fasc.1, pp.37-77, pls.XVI-XX.

Footnotes

A corpus of similar pieces was found by Italian archaeologists in the city of Karkemish. They were produced and in use in the Iron Age I-III (i.e. from ca. 1190 B.C., date of the collapse of the Hittite Empire and the rise of the “Great Kings” of Karkemish, to 605 B.C., date of the “battle of Karkemish”, when the Babylonian army conquered the city.