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LOT 0226
Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet Listing Goods Including 1 Shekel of Refined Silver from Mr Enshaga
EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD, CIRCA 2500 B.C.
2 1/2 in. (95 grams, 64 mm).
Pillow-shaped with impressed text to both faces; accompanied by an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Clay tablet 58x64 mm. with 26 Compartments and One Column of Sumerian Cuneiform. This is oblong with rounded sides and edges. each side is divided into 3 columns, and all but the last two are filled with script. This is some kind of legal document from a Sumerian city not so far known for such texts. The first five columns list items, each with a number and followed by a compartment of a different kind. The last column, on the reverse, is different from the others in giving the name and title of an official who in some way presided over the transaction here recorded. Since it is without exact parallel, it is difficult to translate even when the text is clear (there is some surface damage and one corner is broken off). The items given start with "one donkey", and include a quantity of barley (3 gur of barley), "one shekel of refined silver," and "two iku" (acres of agricultural land) is the last item. after which the document concludes: "Mr Enshaga was their seller." Other items are followed by, apparently, personal names, but only once at the end does "was their seller" appears. More study and more similar documents are needed to clear up the problems. The last column begins clearly enough: Ege-anda, Nugig but the final line is not clear. Nugig is a title of a priestess, but only here, it seems, is such a lady a high official giving her blessing to the sale just recorded. This is a most interesting Sumerian document dating to the later early Dynastic periods, c. 2500 B.C.'
ProvenanceEx private collection of Mr S H; thence by descent,1980-1990.
Accompanied by an original typed and signed scholarly note by the late W.G. Lambert, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993.
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.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0226
Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet Listing Goods Including 1 Shekel of Refined Silver from Mr Enshaga
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,105
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Western Asiatic Rock Crystal Bead Necklace String
20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Composed of graduated melon beads; restrung. 190 grams, 53 cm
From the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. 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. -
Levantine Style Red Jasper Cylinder Seal with Recumbent Quadrupeds
1500-1000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £468
With two rows of human and animal figures, restrung pair of red stone beads, old handwritten label '1544'; accompanied by a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Description of Cylinder Seal of Red Jasper, 37 x 12 mm. The upper register shows a seated figure with one arm raised, the other resting on the waist, a human hand(?) between knees and raised arm; two recumbent quadrupeds one above the other, one winged; two standing stags sideways, with heads turned back. The lower register shows, in a scene marked off by a ladder pattern, three standing humans with both hands raised before a tent-like structure with some object affixed to its upper front, two dots behind the structure. The registers are separated by a line with a row of simple crosses beneath it. This is in a rare Levantine style of c. 1500-1000 B.C. The lower register seems to show an act of worship. The condition is almost fine save for a little chipping at the bottom'; accompanied by a museum-quality impression. 10.2 grams, 37 mm
UK private collection, acquired 1980-1983. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in 1987. 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. -
Western Asiatic Lapis Lazuli Bead Necklace String
20th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Composed of coin-shaped beads interspersed with small cylindrical and larger cornerless cube bead, central feature a large discoid teardrop-shaped pendant; restrung. 71 grams, 39.5 cm
From the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. 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.
