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]

Provenance

Specialised 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.

Literature

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.

Footnotes

The 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.

CONDITION

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LOT 0184