Western Asiatic Banded Alabaster Pot

Skittle-shaped with three figures on the flat face. 8.9 grams, 27 mm



From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.

From the time Mithradates I of Parthia, discoid in plan with concentric bands of punched geometric motifs surrounding a profile male bust in low-relief; loop to reverse. 8.42 grams, 36 mm



Acquired by a Swiss family in the mid-1980s to late 1990s, thence by descent. Private collection, Switzerland, since the late 1990s.

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.