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Details
LOT 0962
Tel Brak Type Alabaster Eye Idol
CIRCA 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.
1 5/8 in. (33.5 grams, 43 mm).
Anthropomorphic eye idol, possibly of figurative female form, carved with a bell-shaped body, two 'breasts', remains of openwork 'eyes' above.
Provenance
Acquired 1969-1999.
London collection of the late Mr S.M., thence by descent.
Footnotes
A classic artefact type from ancient Mesopotamia. Likely hand-carved using drills and string cutting. Eye idols were so named in the 1930s by the British archaeologist Max Mallowan. Whilst excavating a mound called Tel Brak, he discovered hundreds of anthropomorphic items of similar form, thus naming the mound 'Temple of the Eyes'.
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