Sumerian Stone Statue Fragment

3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.

3 3/8 in. (340 grams, 85 mm).

Carved in the round figure of a lion crouching on its haunches, with neck arched and forepaws resting on the spine (upper edge) of an animal placed perpendicular to the lion's head biting into its flesh; the D-shaped face with teardrop-shaped sockets for the eyes, button nose, small triangular ears; the prey with legs folded beneath the body, head turned along the lion's mane and left shoulder, with small protrusive horn and ear, oval socket for the eye; integral base with rounded lateral edges, fracture at each end.

Provenance

From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.

Literature

See Strommenger, E., The Art of Mesopotamia, London, 1964, no.26, for examples of the theme of lions attacking their prey.

CONDITION

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LOT 1520