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LOT 0237
Sumerian Diorite Bowl
4TH-3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.
4 1/2 in. (362 grams, 11.6 cm wide).
Conical in profile with narrow base and rounded rim.
ProvenanceEx private collection, Contessa L.J., since the 1980s.
Private collection, Switzerland, 2001.
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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Mesopotamian Stone Vessel
1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £117
Tubular in profile with curved inner face to the rim. 358 grams, 90 mm high
From a collection formed before 1990. Ex Mayfair, London, UK, gallery, 2000s. 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. -
Middle Assyrian Brick-Shaped Tablet with Funerary Inscription for Adad-Shumu-lesir’s Tomb
1363-912 B.C.Estimate: £6,000 - 8,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £3,000
A rectangular brick-shaped tablet, inscribed in cuneiform script across three vertical faces, with a single column to the fourth and a continuation of text across the top surface; the inscription a funerary curse relating to the tomb of Adad-šumu-lešir, warning against interference with the burial, reading in part: "As for a stranger, or somebody who would approach that tomb, or would bring up a corpse out of it and bury his own within, or would touch the silver inside—Adad, Šamaš, or Nergal will fill his house and field with shortage, collapse, and murder. He will repay the property of that tomb sevenfold, dedicating it to Šuriha. For the offspring of Adad-šumu-lešir he shall be undone for taking out and bringing down objects in the tomb, and for burying another body within it. Month Kalmartu, third day, eponymy of Aššur-mušezib.” 333 grams, 14.3 cm
Acquired in the 1996. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12872-241667. 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.
Funerary inscriptions of this type are extremely rare survivals, serving both as legal texts and spiritual safeguards, invoking the major deities Adad, Šamaš, and Nergal to enforce the curse. -
Gigantic Western Asiatic Pottery Jar
Circa 3000 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,984
Cylindrical in plan and bullet-shaped in profile, sidewall decorated in dark brown with dense hatched filet below the rim and broad band of D-shaped voids and other detailing. 14.85 kg, 62 cm high
With Mahboubian Gallery, London, UK, 1974. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12810-241412. 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.
