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LOT 1480
Stone Age Polished Stone Animal Idol Group
NEOLITHIC PERIOD, CIRCA 6TH-4TH MILLENNIUM B.C. OR LATER
3 1/4 - 6 1/8 in. (2.01 kg total, 8.4-15.5 cm including stand).
Each with stub limbs and rounded profile; each mounted on a custom-made display stand. [3, No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom 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.
Cf. 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, 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.
FootnotesThe sculptures represent farm animals in the Neolithic period, in this case two bovines and a dove. Animal figurines seem to be a recurrent feature in the earlier Neolithic settlements, in the Balkans and in the Levant. It is significant that in the Neolithic Mediterranean, the animals depicted seem to be domesticated, thus suggesting that its reference points were within the confines of the community.
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AUCTIONS:
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Stone Age Leaf-Shaped Flint Arrowhead Group
Neolithic Period, circa 8th-5th millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
Comprising mostly bifacial and uniface leaf-shaped flint and chert arrowheads; probably from the Sahara region of North Africa. 132 grams total, 22-61 mm
UK gallery, early 2000s.
Most of these Western desert arrowheads found in the area of North Africa, from East Sahara to Fayum, fall in the first half of the 6th millennium B.C. and some may be dated back to the late 7th millennium B.C. In addition, the tanged arrowheads and leaf-shaped arrowheads, similar to the Fayum examples, are well-known in the Pottery Neolithic Culture of the southern Levant during the late 7th-early 6th millennia B.C. -
Stone Age Terracotta Figure Head
Circa 6th-4th millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £208
Biconvex in profile with applied eyes and mouth, mounted on a custom-made stand. 78 grams total including stand, 36 mm
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. -
Stone Age Lakenheath Knapped Stone Tool Group
Palaeolithic-Neolithic Period, circa 200,000-3rd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £39
Group of three hand-axes; one with black inked inscription: 'ADZE / LAKENHEATH / 1974'. 596 grams total, 8.9-10.3 cm
Found Lakenheath, UK. 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.
