Western Asiatic Cuneiform Tablet Fragment

Comprising a square panel with a bull's head in low-relief, striated eyes and flaring nostrils, a thick tuft of hair arranged between the eyes, shallow acanthus leaf between curved horns, inscription on the rectangular space at the bottom of the panel; mounted on a custom-made display stand. 2.09 kg total, 19.8 cm including stand



UK collection, 1990s. Acquired on the UK art market, before 2000. Private collection, Mr M.V., a London-based businessman.

The presence of these representations in South Arabian cemeteries attests to the importance of the bull in the religious iconography of pre-Islamic Arabia.

A heavy example modelled in the round with slender, elongated trunk, thick neck and prominent horns, vestigial ears below; Anatolian workmanship. 1.32 kg, 19.2 cm



with Christie's, New York, 8 June 2001, no.363. Private collection, Europe. Accompanied by copies of the relevant Christie's catalogue pages. 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 number no.12414-226675.

Bulls with raised horns have been found in central Anatolian royal burials. Among the sacred animals found in the royal graves of Alacahöyük, the bull and the deer are always present. This simplified figure of a young and spritely standing bull recalls the Baltimore bull and the other two examples in the Cleveland Museum of Art. Images of bulls were mounted on standards, used in battlefields or in religious processions, or as in the royal graves of Alacahöyük, they were used to decorate cult furniture or shrines.

Restrung designer necklace string of oblate and other types with annular pendant centrepiece. 16 grams, 40.5 cm



London, UK, collection, 2000s.