Sumerian Pictographic Tablet

4TH MILLENNIUM B.C.

3 1/2 in. (113 grams, 89 mm).

Of lentoid cross-section with impressed grid and characters or ideograms, an economic text relating to farm produce written over two faces.

Provenance

Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992.
Thence by descent to family members.
Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12093-213020.

Literature

Cf. similar example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art under accession no.1988.433.3.

CONDITION

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LOT 0230