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LOT 0168
Neo-Babylonian Cuneiform Administrative Tablet from the Reign of Artaxerxes I, Achaemenid King of Persia
465-424 B.C.
2 5/8 in. (114 grams, 67 mm wide).
A pillow-shaped administrative clay tablet bearing cuneiform text to both principal faces, relating to a barley debt; Aramaic graffiti to one edge.
ProvenanceSpecialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992.
Thence by descent to family members.
Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples.
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, New York, 86.11.163, for similar.
FootnotesThe tablet records a promissory note of a typical kind to pay for barley. It concludes with the names of witnesses, town and date. The Aramaic script transcribes the cuneiform name of the debtor into Aramaic script, making it easier for scribes to identify who each tablet refers to.
It dates to the Achaemenid period, to the reign of Artaxerxes I (465-424 B.C.).
Such late administrative tablets are typically carelessly written, as is apparent on our example as some script has been rendered slanting sharply downwards.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0168
Neo-Babylonian Cuneiform Administrative Tablet from the Reign of Artaxerxes I, Achaemenid King of Persia
Sold for (Inc. bp): £910
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Framed Indo-Persian Watercolour Manuscript Leaf
Late 19th-early 20th century A.D.Estimate: £80 - 100 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £40
A manuscript leaf with a watercolour scene of two men in a landscape, one lying on the ground, surrounded by trees and grass, panels of five lines of a poem above and below, border around the whole; set in a reveal within a glazed wooden frame. 637 grams, 27.2 x 20 cm
Fair condition.
Acquired on the UK art market, 1980s-1990s. The Woodbridge collection of Indo-Persian art. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Zoomorphic Cauldron
Hasanlu IV, circa 10th-8th century B.C.Estimate: £5,000 - 7,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £2,500
A bronze calotte-shaped cauldron or basin with collared rectangular handles featuring scalloped grips along the upper edges, a pair of stylised bird of prey protomes beneath each, talons drawn up to their chests, bulging eyes, prominent hooked beaks, wings spread and fan-shaped tails. 679 grams, 23.5 cm wide
Ex Maurice Braham, 1970s. London collection, 1990s. Accompanied by previous typed and illustrated catalogue pages. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11640-199105.
A rare object. The limited number of parallels feature birds of a more schematic style. Only four published parallel cauldrons with bird protomes are known to exist. Given the quality of the ornament, such basis may have been used by members of the elite in Iron Age Iranian society, although their exact functions remains unclear. One 'orientalised' Etruscan bronze cauldron was found used as a cremation vessel, placed in a tumulus and associated with a localised 'heroic' burial context. Other feasible uses include high status drinking vessels or symbols of rank. -
Western Asiatic Gold Pendant with Turquoise
Late 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
A gold pendant composed of a central gold stem with loop finial and coiled sleeves, a coral bead between two filigree beads with granules between plain bands, triangular turquoise pendant. 1.54 grams, 33 mm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
