Details

LOT 1502

Western Asiatic Bactrian Stone 'Princess' Idol

4TH-2ND MILLENNIUM BC

3 1/2" (468 grams, 87mm).

A stone figure with a grey-green serpentine base and a white marble or chalcedony head, connected to the body with a ball-and-socket arrangement; base ground and polished; head ground, polished and drilled; eyes drilled through to the cephalic cavity; modelled as a seated and cloaked female figure decorated with horizontal and vertical bands of incised triangles, alternating hatched and plain which are present on the front, side and rear faces; head and face with long strong nose, small round ears, heavy-lidded eyes below thin brows.

Provenance

Property of a London gentleman; previously with Bonhams, London, 2 October 2014, lot 105; formerly with Safani Gallery, New York, USA, 1998; acquired from Mehdi Mahboubian, New York, USA, 1970s; originally from Gallery Rosen Ancient Art, New York, USA, 1968; accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages and copies of the catalogue produced by Safani Gallery (1998-1999) and three old museum-quality photographs; supplied with geological report No. TL005211, by geology consultant Dr R. L. Bonewitz.

Literature

See Pottier, M-H., Materiel Funeraire de la Bactriane Meridionale De L'Age Du Bronze, France, memoire no 36, fig.42 and pl.XLII, for the triangular motif.

CONDITION