Sasanian Carnelian Gemstone with Portrait

Conical in profile with flat base and U-shaped channel through the apex. 6.93 kg, 18.5 cm high



Ex London, UK, gallery, 1971-early 2000s. London, 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.

Group of irregular ceramic fragments with low-relief zoomorphic and other ornament. 131 grams, 25-56 mm



Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1988. 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. 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.

With a squat body and two looped eyes, slightly convex base. 34 grams, 38 mm wide



Acquired in the 1980s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 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.

This type of figurine belongs to the type known as an ‘eye idol’ or ‘spectacle idol’, made of stone, marble or alabaster. Usually models having incised eyes (but also examples of open eyes are found) have been excavated mainly at Tell Brak, where thousands were found in a building now called the Eye Temple. There, in the precincts of the temple, excavators have found thousands of little 'eye-idols', schematised humanoid figures fashioned from alabaster, limestone, soapstone and black burnished clay.