Western Asiatic Bronze Seal Matrix

Comprising: six specimens with a tapering round-section shank, balustered finial topped with a conical head, fastening holes; four specimens with tapering round section, poppy-shaped head and flared collar beneath. 714 grams total, 14.1-41.7 cm



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

According to the study of Moorey, the knobbed pins from Iran are documented from the earliest periods of metallurgy, increasing in quantity during the late 2nd millennium, to reach the peak of the production from the early 1st millennium. Pins were used as hair and clothing fasteners, but it is not excluded that they could have been used by women as personal means of defence in dangerous situations.

Raised from a single sheet, conical in form with concave body and everted rim; the body, executed in repoussè technique and chased details, decorated by a frieze of three male ibexes, rows of ovules under the rim and beneath the animals; the beasts with muscular bodies and curving horns, each reaching for a flower hanging from above, and eight-petalled flower to the base; late Elamite or Marlik; repaired. 148 grams, 11.7 cm high



with Mahboubian Gallery, New York, acquired prior to 1966. Property of a London gentleman. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate no.12167-220488.

Heart-shaped plaque with long drilled suspension bar above, obverse with nine lines of maghribi script. 41 grams, 73 mm



with a London, UK gallery, 1971-early 2000s.