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LOT 0184
Sumerian Terracotta 'Bulla Envelope' with Impressed Decoration
URUK PERIOD, CIRCA 5500-3100 B.C.
2 1/2 in. (229 grams, 65 mm).
Complete and of spherical form, containing clay 'tokens'; the outer face impressed with enigmatic motifs. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceSpecialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1988.
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.
Cf. The Oriental Institute Museum, Woods, C. ed., Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond, University of Chicago, 2010, p.68, for this type of object and the whole article for relevant discussion.
FootnotesThe impressed detailing on the outer face of the sphere presumably gives an indication as to the contents, but since so few of these items survive intact there is little certainty on the subject.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0184
Sumerian Terracotta 'Bulla Envelope' with Impressed Decoration
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,860
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Syro-Hittite Silver Standing Stag
12th-8th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13,000
Modelled in the round standing with head raised, recurved horns or antlers, slender muzzle with mouth detailing, incised ring-and-dot motif to shoulders and hips; mounted on a custom-made stand. 69.2 grams total, 80 mm high including stand
London art market, 1978. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12263-220844.
Stylistically, the item shares features with the Hattian stag figurine found in the royal tombs in Alacahöyük (now in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, Ankara, Turkey) and dating from the period 2100-2000 B.C. The use of ring-and-dot embellishments to the flanks is suggestive of some cultural continuity. The animal depicted is probably an ibex rather than a European stag. However, a date of manufacture in the period after the fall of the Hittite Empire in the 12th century B.C. seems more probable. -
Mesopotamian Alabaster Offering Dish with Lion Handle
2nd-early 1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £18,000 - 24,000 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £10,000
An Aramean rectangular dish with sloping sides, an inward-facing goat-head at each corner; handle formed as a recumbent lion biting the rim; each beast with recessed eyes to accept inserts; ropework band to the underside. 698 grams, 22 cm
Windermere Collection, Germany, 1960s. American collection, Phillips, 1960s-1980s. with Fortuna Fine Arts, 2012. From the S.M. collection, 2012-2016. From an important London collection, 2016. Private collection. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00118561. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12164-218579.
The Aramean civilisation produced superb specimens of vessels, in which the lion, symbol of royal power, was one of the most relevant decorative motifs. Vessels of this typology are already known from the Anatolian culture of Kültepe, the first Hittite capital, since the Middle Bronze Age. Also the culture of Ugarit (Ras Shamarra) produced cups with similar lion heads, in a period of 1500 and 1300 B.C. -
Western Asiatic Bead Necklace String
1st millennium B.C. and laterSold for (Inc. bp): £33
Restrung designer necklace with two central feature beads; composed of graduated beads of various types of stone, glass and shell. 15.61 grams, 35 cm long
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
Similar beads were found during the excavations of the royal tombs of Nimrud. Thousands of beads were discovered in the sarcophagi, including those of Nimrud’s Queens; they probably originally formed part of wide collars with multiple strands.
