Details

LOT 0314

Stone Age Animal Idol Group

NEOLITHIC PERIOD, CIRCA 6TH-4TH MILLENNIUM B.C. OR LATER

3 3/4 - 4 1/8 in. (952 grams total, 9.6-10.5 cm including stand).

Comprising three carved and polished stone figurines, possibly representing bovines or pigs, with stylised heads and stub legs; each mounted on a custom-made stand. [3, No Reserve]

Provenance

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.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Literature

Cf. Morris, D., The Art of Ancient Cyprus, Oxford, 1985, fig.342, p.212, for a similar idol; Various, Idoles, au commencement était l’image – 22 Novembre 1990 – 28 Février 1991, Paris, 1990, fig.11, for a Neolithic sculpture in similar style; Nanoglou, S., ‘Representation of Humans and Animals in Greece and the Balkans during the Earlier Neolithic’ in Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 18, 2008, pp. 1-13, fig.3, nos.2-7, and fig. 6, for similar; also see the view of Caldwell, Duncan, The Use of Animals in Birth Protection Rituals and Possible Uses of Stone Figurines from the Central Sahel, 2015 winter issue, vol.48, no.4, Nov., pp.14-25.

Footnotes

Animal figurines seem to be a recurring feature in the earlier Neolithic settlements, in the Balkans and in the Levant. It is significant that in the Neolithic Mediterranean the depicted animals seem to be domesticated, thus suggesting that its reference points were within the confines of the community.