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LOT 0340
Stone Age Pregnant Mother Goddess Idol Collection
NEOLITHIC PERIOD, CIRCA 6TH-4TH MILLENNIUM B.C. OR LATER
4 3/8 - 4 3/4 in. (1.75 kg total, 11.3-12.1 cm).
Comprising two pregnant female figures with emphasised rounded stomach, and a male with vestigial limbs; each mounted on a custom-made 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.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12332-224210.
Cf. Morris, D., The Art of Ancient Cyprus, Oxford, 1985, figs.107-108, p.119, for similar idols; Various, Idoles, Au commencement etait l’image, A la Reine Margot, 22 Novembre 1990-28 Fevrier 1991, Paris, 1990, fig. 11, for similar; also see Caldwell, Duncan, ‘The Use of Animals in Birth Protection Rituals and Possible Uses of Stone Figurines from the Central Sahel’ in African Arts, UCLA, 2015 Winter issue, vol.48, no.4, Nov., pp.14-25, figs.5, letters A,N,O.
FootnotesMost scholars consider these as symbols of the fertility cult and as evidence of the existence of a matriarchal society as a form of organisation of the earliest human society. The people of the Stone Age may have considered figures such as this to represent women and mothers with their life-giving powers, or as depictions of the ancestors.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0340
Stone Age Pregnant Mother Goddess Idol Collection
Sold for (Inc. bp): £598
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French Stone Age 'Micoquin' Acheulean Handaxe
Lower Palaeolithic Period, circa 450,000-300,000 B.PSold for (Inc. bp): £85
Well made with a Micoquin shape, with irregular and offset faces; inked legend 'BIF. Micoquin / [Ca]r Audouin / Charente / St. Meme / (FR). 160 grams, 99 mm
From the well regarded long closed quarry site of St Meme, Charente, France. From an old large French collection. Acquired on the European art market. From the private collection of an East Anglian, UK, specialist collector. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Likely made by Homo Heidelbergensis or the first Neanderthals in to France. -
Stone Age Obsidian Knife Core
5th millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,170
Triangular in section with curved beak, facetting to the flanks. 527 grams, 14.7 cm
Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato. -
Stone Age Leaf-Shaped and Other Arrowhead Collection
Neolithic Period, circa 6th-4th millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Comprising mostly bifacial and uniface flint and chert arrowheads; probably from the Sahara region of North Africa. 78 grams total, 20-41 mm
UK gallery, early 2000s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Similar specimens of arrowheads have been found in the Eastern Sahara Region of Abu Tartur Plateau. Most of the arrowheads came from the El Jarar Neolithic, c. 7700-7300 B.P. (c.6500-6100 B.C.). Other parallels occur in the region of Kharga Oasis.
