Details

LOT 0191

South Arabian Alabaster Sculpture of a Man with Inscription

3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.

10 5/8 in. (3.62 kg total, 27.1 cm including stand).

On a rectangular background, shallow sockets and grooved eyebrows, elongated nose and face, mouth faintly indicated by a straight incised line, large, protruding ears; traces of beard under the chin, vertical lines representing hair; name engraved in Arabian letters beneath the chin; 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. for the style of the head Cleveland R.L., An Ancient South Arabian Necropolis, objects from the second campaign (1951) in the Timna Cemetery, Baltimore, 1951, pls. 20,23. for similar examples; Simpson, S., Queen of Sheba. Treasures from Ancient Yemen, London, 2002, p.119, no.128.

Footnotes

Within South Arabia, there was a well-developed ancient tradition of carving funerary sculptures from a calcite-alabaster stone. The eyes and eyebrows of the heads were usually inlaid or (like probably here) highlighted with red or black pigment. The figure is inscribed on the base with the name of the dedicant, or with the personal name of the dead person.