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Details
LOT 0224
Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet Listing Goods Including 10 Shekels of Silver
AKKADIAN PERIOD, CIRCA 2300-2200 B.C.
2 1/4 in. (68 grams, 58 mm).
Pillow-shaped ceramic tablet with one segmented surface; 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, 53x57 mm, with 16 Lines of Sumerian Cuneiform. There are two columns of writing on the obverse only, the second not quite complete. The script dates the tablet to the Akkadian period, c.2300-2200 B.C. There is a chip off the lower edge, but all the writing is in perfect state of preservation. The text is a scholarly list of words and phrases such as scribed writing ur legal and commercial documents might use. Not everything has been understood so far, but some things are perfectly clear: A pot of lard; Bronze; x* of a mina of copper * apparently a fraction; Female kid; Male kid; Its silver 10 shekels; Bed of oak? Scholarly tablets of this kind are extremely rare for the Old Akkadian period. They are part of the scholarly list tradition which is a prominent feature of this civilization.'
Provenance
Ex 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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LOT 0224
Sumerian Cuneiform Tablet Listing Goods Including 10 Shekels of Silver
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,950
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