Western Asiatic Cylinder Seal with Worship Scene

A bifacial, lentoid-section rectangular clay tablet with rounded corners and short sides, medial horizontal line to each face, with hand-drawn pictographs above and below, a count of sheep and caprids. 42 grams, 66 mm wide



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 lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11637-198551.

Early writing was used primarily as a means of recording economic data; this tablet likely records deliveries and distributions of grain. At the end of the 4th millennium B.C., written language developed in Mesopotamia as pictographs, later evolving into abstract forms called cuneiform. Pictographs were drawn in the clay with a pointed implement. Circular impressions alongside the pictographs represented numerical symbols. Cuneiform (meaning wedge-shaped) script was written by pressing a reed pen or stylus with a wedge-shaped tip into a clay tablet.

A bulbous ceramic vessel with trumpet-style neck and rim and integral foot. 1.1 kg, 23 cm high



Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.

A square-shaped copper-alloy jeweller's matrix with recessed moulds to one face, comprising various motifs including stylised stars, fish and others. 104 grams, 39 mm



Acquired 1969-1999. London collection of the late Mr S.M., thence by descent.