LOT 0206

Western Asiatic Bronze Statuette of a Kneeling Priest

LATE 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.

3 1/4 in. (359 grams, 83 mm).

Modelled as a kneeling priest wearing a knee-length kilt, the long hair combed back from the face and extending down the back, arms bent, and fists clenched, resting on the belt, recessed to the underside.

Ex London family collection, since the 1970s.

Accompanied by a report of metallurgical analytical results, written by Metallurgist Dr Brian Gilmour of the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13313-258236.

Cf. Carter, M.L., Goldstein, S., Harper, P.O., Kawami, T.S., Meyers, P., Splendors of the Ancient East, Antiquities from the al-Sabah collection, London, 2013, fig.5, for a similar statuette of a kneeling man from Early Dynastic Ur, 2650-2550 B.C.

This powerful figure was probably lost-wax cast in arsenical copper, as were many Near Eastern bronzes of the 3rd millennium. He is muscular with broad shoulders, a strong chest and a well-toned, rippling abdomen. The pleated long garment is typical of the Mesopotamian men. Very interesting is his praying gesture, which is typical of the statuette of Ur culture.