Details

LOT 0273

Western Asiatic Elamite Gold Hero Roundel

MID 2ND MILLENNIUM BC

3 1/4" (128 grams, 83mm).

A gold roundel with head of a hero or Humbaba figure to centre, long hair parted down the middle, ending in three curls on each side; head separated from a row of seven recumbent rams by double rope-pattern band; outer border with double rope-pattern; to the back, bronze roundel with traces of attachment loops.

Provenance

From an important London W1, collection; formerly with Boisgirard and Heckeren, Nouveau Drouot, Paris, 24 September 1981, lot 165; previously acquired before 1970; accompanied by copies of the relevant Boisgirad and Heckeren catalogue pages. Accompanied by X-Ray Fluorescence metal analysis certificate number 00943-2018WR.

Literature

For an example once in the Schimmel Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with a similar facing head surrounded by seven rams, but with only the bitumen core preserved, see no.73. bis in Hoffmann, ed., The Beauty of Ancient Art, The Norbert Schimmel Collection; also see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1989.281.24.

Footnotes

The Elamite kingdom comprised the lowlands areas of Khuzestan, along with the immediate highland areas to the north and east. Elamite strength was based on an ability to hold these various areas together under a coordinated government that permitted the maximum interchange of the natural resources unique to each region, with the king ruling from the city of Susa. During the Middle Elamite Period, Elam became one of the great military powers of the Middle East with large areas of Mesopotamia and Babylon under their control. The power of the Elamites was eventually broken by the revolt of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar I. Hero figures seem to have played an important religious and social role in a number of Mesopotamian cultures, appearing on a number of objects, most notably cylinder seals. Three great heroes are known, Gilgamesh, Lugalbanda and Emmerkar, each of whom seems to have been based upon a real character, a hero-king favoured by the gods. These hero figures usually undertake a series of tasks to safeguard their people and cities, often fighting demons so as to establish order.

CONDITION