Tibetan Wooden Bread Stamp with Yak and Inscription

Barrel-shaped in profile with a flat base, ribbed rim to the tapering neck with raised rim; incised lines to the outer face. 199 grams total, 51-75 mm



UK private collection before 2000. Acquired on the UK art market. Private collection, London, UK.

Showing a man on a standing bull, grabbing the hair of a captive with his right hand. 84 grams, 51 mm high



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

The statuette can represent the god storm Hazor, a storm deity with lunar traits. The association between a bull and storm deities is well known on Anatolian sealings from 20th-19th century B.C. The portrayal of a god standing on a bull in conjunction with lunar symbols derived from Old Babylonian cult, where the bull was connected with the Moon as a goddess, and continued in the Near East in association with the god Hazor, identified with El, head of the Canaanite pantheon.

Comprising a broad bell-shaped bowl with flat rim attached by a thick trunk with four rows of angled impressions to a tripod base with sturdy curved legs with inner supporting ring and keeled finials. 5.28 kg, 35.5 cm



with Mahboubian Gallery, London, UK, 1974. Private collection, London, UK.