Western Asiatic Achaemenid Blue Glass Bead Necklace String

Comprising the upper body of a nude male and a female worshipper; the male with his hands clasped across the chest; the female with her hands clasped on her stomach; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 806 grams total, 10.1 cm high (15.5 cm high including stand)



By repute from an old collection. Acquired on the US art market, circa 2004. Private collection since 2004. Accompanied by a copy of an Israeli export permit. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12083-214173.

With a keeled hoop and openwork shield-shaped shoulder with scroll ornament, a diamond-shaped shield with a cross to the base of the hoop; large bezel with an applied stylised bird underneath, the sides with pellet ornament in three rows, four claws holding the 4th-5th century Sassanian intaglio depicting a boar devouring the leg of its prey. 8.63 grams, 25.72 mm overall, 18.95 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P 1/2, USA 7 3/4, Europe 16.86, Japan 16)



Private collection, USA, acquired in the 1990s. Accompanied by a copy of a previous cataloguing information page.

It was a fairly common practice to re-use Sassanian intaglios in Islamic rings from Iran. In Eastern cultures the boar was a sacred animal with magical powers.

Group of three oil lamps, each hemispherical with pinched and folded profile. 733 grams total, 11.6-16 cm



From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000. From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.