Loading, please wait...
LOT 0231
Sumerian Proto-Cuneiform Tablet with Symbols
JEMDET NASR PERIOD, URUK III, 3200-3000 B.C.
2 1/2 in. (45.6 grams, 63 mm).
Pillow-shaped with incised grid to the broad faces, dense cuneiform pictographic text in the columns with impressed pellet numerals.
ProvenancePercy Barnevik, Sweden.
Private collection, UK, acquired June 2000.
with Sam Fogg, London.
Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2015.
Accompanied by a copy of Professor Lambert’s notes and two-page cataloguing report.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13429-259930.
Cf. Monaco, S., Archaic Cuneiform Tablets from Private Collections, CUSAS 31, Cornell, 2016, for other comparable tablets.
FootnotesVarious collections of cuneiform tablets form a corpus of texts mainly of administrative nature, from the Uruk III and Ur III periods. The proto-cuneiform, as a system of proto-writing, emerged in Mesopotamia ca.3500-3200 BC, during the Uruk period.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
LOT 0231
Sumerian Proto-Cuneiform Tablet with Symbols
Estimate £4,000 - 6,000€4,640 - 6,960 (for guidance only)$5,400 - 8,100 (for guidance only)
Opening Bid
£2,000 (EUR 2,320; USD 2,700) +BP*
-
Holy Land Terracotta Jar
Bronze Age, circa 3rd millennium B.C.Estimate: £50 - 70 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £5
Globular body with a tubular neck. 334 grams, 11.7 cm high
Ex property of a London gentleman; acquired before 2000. From the property of a late Lincolnshire, UK, gentleman; thence by descent. Accompanied by a previous catalogue information slip. -
South Arabian King Rabbishamsum Nimran Bronze Dedicatory Plaque
Yemen, circa 150 A.D.Estimate: £8,000 - 10,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £4,000
Rectangular in profile with spur to each upper angle; high-relief reserved epigraphic text in ten lines with void at lower centre; dedicated to the god Dhu-Samāwī by Ẓabiyum Yarḥab, under the Reign of King Rabbīshamsum Nimrān; mounted on a custom-made stand. 2.03 kg total, 28 x 18.6 cm (34.5 cm high including stand)
Ex Robin Marshal-Carter, Adelaide, South Australia, 1970. Private collection, London, UK. Accompanied by a full transliteration and translation into modern English. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12697-235195.
From the temple of Yaghrū consecrated to the god dhu-Samāwī, in the wādī 'l-Shudayf in northern Yemen. -
Old Babylonian Hardstone Stone Cylinder Seal with Presentation Scene
Mesopotamia, 1800-1600 B.C.Estimate: £1,200 - 1,700 (+bp*)
Bids: 3 | Current Bid: £15
Cylinder with a scene composed of a seated male figure wearing a horned crown and long dress, holding a vessel; facing two standing male figures, one of them holding a jar with overflowing water; two standing figures with one holding the other; a tall column or tree behind the seated deity figure; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 38.7 grams, 36 mm
Private European collection, 1990s.
