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LOT 1211

Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,690

SOUTH ARABIAN ALABASTER HEAD OF A WOMAN
6TH-4TH CENTURY B.C. OR LATER
9 in. (2.12 kg total, 23 cm high including stand).

Sockets to accept inlaid eyes, roughly chiselled ears placed high, elongated nose, top of the head cut off flat at the hair line, back of the head left roughly tooled; mounted on a custom-made display stand.

PROVENANCE:
UK collection, 1990s.
Acquired on the UK art market, before 2000.
Private collection, Mr M.V., a London-based businessman.
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.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Simpson, S., Queen of Sheba. Treasures from Ancient Yemen, London, 2002, pp.198-199, nos.277-278, for similar.

FOOTNOTES:
The human heads sculptured in alabaster or other stone vary in size and detail, but are a closely related group. They all have many stylistic characteristics in common. Our head is from a funerary monument and it was originally set within an inscribed stela.

CONDITION
VETTING:
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