Ur II Period Lapis Lazuli Cylinder Seal with Dedicatory 'Gutua to Inka' Inscription

Modelled in the round crouching female figure with hands supporting the breasts, knees drawn up, pinched facial features and applied-band headdress; pigment detailing to shoulders and thighs; restored. 71 grams, 86 mm



Acquired in York, Yorkshire, UK. Ex P. Watson collection, UK, 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.

In the 7th millennium BC, cultures in the Near East began creating organised settlements with developed religious and funerary practices. The Halaf culture of Anatolia and northern Syria produced a variety of figures representing females and associated with fertility. It is not known whether figures such as this were intended to represent real, ideal, or divine women. However, scholars believe that their primary purpose was to encourage female fertility.

Conical with a domed top, ten-line inscription for Gudea of Lagash, giving a record of the building of Eninnu, the temple of Ningirsu: 'For Ningirsu, the powerful warrior of Enlil, Gudea, ruler of Lagaš, brought about perfection: he built and restored his E-ninnu-anzud-babbar.' 172 grams, 12.2 cm



From an important collection formed before 1988. Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and 1990s. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert. 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.

Votive cones are one type of royal foundation deposit, objects that were buried in the walls and beneath the floors of important buildings during construction to sanctify the site and to create a historical memory of the ruler and his achievements.

Comprising a leaf-shaped blade with raised midrib extending to the round-section long shank, raised collar above a rectangular section tang, fastened by bending to a right-angle. 300 grams, 46 cm



Ex London art market, 1980-1990s. 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 specimen belongs to the category of tripartite spears with long pointed biconvex blade and single bevelled tang. They seem to be a Mesopotamian and Susian (Elamite) variant, and this type also includes decorated blades, like the spear from Tello with the inscription 'King of Kish'.