Western Asiatic Gold Bead Collection

A pillow-shaped administrative clay tablet bearing cuneiform text to both principal faces, relating to a barley debt; Aramaic graffiti to one edge. 114 grams, 67 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.

The tablet records a promissory note of a typical kind to pay for barley. It concludes with the names of witnesses, town and date. The Aramaic script transcribes the cuneiform name of the debtor into Aramaic script, making it easier for scribes to identify who each tablet refers to. It dates to the Achaemenid period, to the reign of Artaxerxes I (465-424 B.C.). Such late administrative tablets are typically carelessly written, as is apparent on our example as some script has been rendered slanting sharply downwards.

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 flat-section penannular bronze bracelet, incised with geometric motifs composed of chevrons, lozenges, pricked dots and hatching; pierced terminals. 47 grams, 58 mm



Early 1990s London collection. Acquired on the UK art market. From a private collection, Lancashire, UK.