Western Asiatic Aramaic Pendant Seal Matrix

With foliate blade, rhomboidal in section, raised mid-rib, medium length stem widening at its base and forming a small discoid stop, rectangular-section tang with bent terminal. 224 grams, 46.5 cm



Acquired in the 1990s. Ex Abelita family collection. 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'.

Pillow-shaped with impressed text to both faces; accompanied by an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Clay tablet 58x64 mm. with 26 Compartments and One Column of Sumerian Cuneiform. This is oblong with rounded sides and edges. each side is divided into 3 columns, and all but the last two are filled with script. This is some kind of legal document from a Sumerian city not so far known for such texts. The first five columns list items, each with a number and followed by a compartment of a different kind. The last column, on the reverse, is different from the others in giving the name and title of an official who in some way presided over the transaction here recorded. Since it is without exact parallel, it is difficult to translate even when the text is clear (there is some surface damage and one corner is broken off). The items given start with "one donkey", and include a quantity of barley (3 gur of barley), "one shekel of refined silver," and "two iku" (acres of agricultural land) is the last item. after which the document concludes: "Mr Enshaga was their seller." Other items are followed by, apparently, personal names, but only once at the end does "was their seller" appears. More study and more similar documents are needed to clear up the problems. The last column begins clearly enough: Ege-anda, Nugig but the final line is not clear. Nugig is a title of a priestess, but only here, it seems, is such a lady a high official giving her blessing to the sale just recorded. This is a most interesting Sumerian document dating to the later early Dynastic periods, c. 2500 B.C.' 95 grams, 64 mm



Ex private collection of Mr S H; thence by descent,1980-1990. Accompanied by an original typed and signed scholarly note by the late W.G. Lambert, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham, 1970-1993. 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.

Comprising a rounded body resting on three stub legs; funicular mouth and short neck; beneath the rim a mask with pinched nose and two pointed ears, impressed circular eyes and mouth; three vertical decorative strips impressed with the same tool as formed the eyes and mouth; tiered strap handle with two finger-grips to the outer face and impressed detailing running from the neck to the shoulder; rim and one foot partly restored. 723 grams, 20.6 cm



Ex Zackary, Los Angeles, 1960s. Thereafter London art market, 1992. Accompanied by a copy of an Art Loss Register certificate no.S00079639. 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.