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LOT 0965
Western Asiatic Bronze Lion Censer Lid
11TH-12TH CENTURY A.D.
5 3/8 in (393 grams total, 13.5 cm high including stand).
Formed with stylised features, an ovoid face, openwork eyes, triangular nose, ears pricked forwards and decorative openwork panels to the neck; mounted on a custom-made display base.
ProvenanceFrench collection, 1960s-early 2000s.
From an important Paris gallery, France.
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum, accession number 51.56, for similar.
FootnotesZoomorphic incense burners were popular during the Seljuk period. When complete, coal and incense could be placed inside the burner and the scented smoke would escape through the pierced areas.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0965
Western Asiatic Bronze Lion Censer Lid
Estimate £1,500 - 2,000€1,740 - 2,320 (for guidance only)$2,030 - 2,700 (for guidance only)
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Mesopotamian Decorated Bulla Envelope Containing Tokens
Mid 6th-mid 4th millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,950
Spherical hollow clay mass with the remains of impressions to the exterior and ceramic tokens inside; surface cracked. 169 grams, 61 mm
Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992. Thence by descent to family members. Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples.
This bulla envelope likely belonged to the Sumerian or Uruk culture. It is believed that there are less than 250 complete and fragmentary examples of this type of bulla envelope worldwide. This is one of only a handful of examples ever offered at auction. The bulla first emerged in Mesopotamia around 8000 B.C. The clay envelopes contain a number of pre-baked accounting tokens, which were used in commercial and stock-taking transactions. Placing the tokens inside the bulla greatly enhanced the honesty of the transaction, as the bulla would have to be broken or crushed to reveal its contents. -
Western Asiatic Bronze Openwork Lamp Stand
Circa 12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,300
Hollow-formed with openwork bulbs and interstitial flanges to the shaft; broad discoid platter with raised rim and pierced lobes; tripod base with openwork dome and low-relief scrollwork. 4.4 kg, 59 cm high
with a London, UK gallery 1971-early 2000s. -
Mesopotamian Marble Mortar
Neolithic Period, 6th-4th millennium B.C. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £143
Cylindrical stone mortar with waisted profile, deep pounding socket to the upper face. 3.53 kg, 15 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
