Sasanian High Tin Bronze Bowl

A bifacial sceptre head formed as a Master of Animals atop a collared tubular stem with flared foot; the finial composed of two addorsed birds standing on their backs looking up towards two birds' heads facing down and joined to slender crescentic arms representing slender beasts with ridged backs and roaring mouths, each in the grip of the Master standing crowned between them; the Master with tubular body, animal-like ears, prominent nose above a small mouth and wearing collars, neck rings and tiered headdress; waisted socket below; mounted on a display stand. 399 grams, 32.3 cm (526 grams total, 34.5 cm including stand)



Acquired between 1965-2020. Private collection, London. 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 small head belongs to the tubular idols with protomes of second type of ‘Master of Animals’, probably being a finial standard. This type, according to Chausidis, came to be with the gradual transformation of the ‘zoomorphic standards with a human head, whereby the front legs of the animals became integrated into the tubular pillar of the standards. It gradually began to be cast with the other elements, representing the neck and torso of the central anthropomorphic character that retained the two-faced feature of the previous type. The necks and heads of the animal pair separated from the rest of their bodies, which, in turn, gradually lost their original form and acquired new meanings.

With leaf-shaped blade, raised midrib extending to a tubular split socket with fastening holes. 165 grams, 29.7 cm



Acquired 1980-2015. 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.

With the introduction of the socketted spearhead in the Middle East in the second half of the 3rd millennium B.C., by the middle of the 2nd millennium, these kind of spearheads became predominant throughout the ancient Near East, and the design of the spearhead remained practically unchanged since then.

With frieze in three scenes: crouching gryphon with one foreleg raised above a guilloche scene-divider with a crouching ibex below; three human figures standing, the outer two wearing an ankle-length skirt with waistband, one arm bent holding a frond and, between them, a standing figure in flounced robe flanked by a squatting monkey with tail raised and a freestanding cruciform symbol; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 5.86 grams, 19 mm



From the 'S' collection, acquired 1970-1990s. The collection was seen and studied by W.G.Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993. 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.