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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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Neo-Assyrian Stone Cylinder Seal with Worship Scene
1st millennium B.C. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £585
With a male attendant kneeling on each side of a sacred tree, winged sun disc above; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 15.5 grams, 38 mm
From the collection of the late S, London, UK, 1970-2000. Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, 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 Limestone Cylinder Seal
12th-10th century B.C. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £104
With incuse frieze depicting a herdsman with a goat beside a structure (possibly a hearth with flame); supplied with a museum-quality impression. 2.23 grams, 20 mm
Acquired on the European art market, 1980s. From the collection of G.M.R.H., London, UK. 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. -
Chalcolithic Terracotta Fertility Idol
3rd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Modelled as a highly stylised seated female figure with stub legs and outstretched stub arms, triangular head with simple facial features, conical breasts, buttocks and spine delineated with simple lines to rear. 169 grams, 92 mm high
From the collection of a deceased London gentleman, 1979-1999; thence by descent. From the private collection of John Meredith, acquired since the 1990s; thence by descent. 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.
