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LOT 0242
Sassanian Onyx Seal with Two Horses and Riders
4TH-5TH CENTURY A.D.
1 in. (16.37 grams, 24 mm).
Plano-convex seal with intaglio image of two horsemen face-to-face with a segmented arch between them; probably the Sassanian equivalent of the Diskouroi; supplied with a museum-quality impression.
ProvenanceAcquired between 1980-1983.
From the 'Empire' collection, an important UK private collection of seals, no.10.
Accompanied by a copy of an old typed cataloguing page signed by A D H Bivar.
A similar image of two horsemen also appears on a Sassanian silver-gilt dish now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no.63.152). Alternatively, the image may be of an investiture scene, as shown in the sculpture of Naqsh-i Rustam. Cf. BM Stamp Seals II, reference BL6.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0242
Sassanian Onyx Seal with Two Horses and Riders
Estimate £2,000 - 3,000€2,320 - 3,480 (for guidance only)$2,700 - 4,050 (for guidance only)
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Western Asiatic Bifacial Stone Stamp Seal
1st millennium B.C. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £7
With intaglio bovine to one face and canine to the other. 1.68 grams, 11 mm
From the H.N. collection, Milton Keynes, Berkshire, UK, 1990s. -
Neo-Assyrian Stone Cylinder Seal with Scorpion and Bird
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £845
With pointillé design of two birds one above the other, a scorpion and a tulip. 3.32 grams, 17 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. -
Hittite Bronze Statuette of a Stag
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £390
Modelled in the round, the stag standing with legs firmly set, ears and antlers carefully modelled; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 291 grams total, 88 mm including stand
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
In Anatolia, cult objects in the form of a deer found in the Royal Cemetery of Alaca Höyük, dating to the 3rd millennium B.C., suggest worship of this animal. This continued during the Hittite period where bronze statuettes of this type were widespread. The cult was widespread in the Mediterranean-Aegean world. Even on the remote island of Sardinia, similar cultic and votive statuettes were made.
