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LOT 0238
South Arabian Alabaster Head of a Female
3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.
7 1/4 in. (1.96 kg total, 18.5 cm including stand).
Sculptured female head, angular nose with straight ridge, slightly rounded cheeks and triangular chin, large sockets for inlaid eyes, grooved eyebrows and high ears, long locks of hair visible below the ears; mounted on a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceUK collection, 1990s.
Acquired on the UK art market, before 2000.
Private collection, Mr M.V., a London-based businessman.
Cf. Cleveland R.L., An Ancient South Arabian Necropolis, objects from the second campaign (1951) in the Timna Cemetery, Baltimore, pls.10-11,16-17, for similar examples (esp.TC 1543).
FootnotesIn the Arabian funerary sculptures of the period, the tops of the heads are usually cut off flat just above the hair line and left roughly tooled. The cut was due to the necessity of fitting them into niches of 'house shrines'. Large stelae with niches containing such heads were found in the Timna Cemetery.
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AUCTIONS:
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Syrian Lustre Pottery Bowl
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