Western Asiatic Gold Floral Earrings

Restrung group of glass seed beads with melon beads, centrepiece a large fusiform bead. 21.2 grams, 40.5 cm



Acquired on the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. Ex London, UK, gallery.

Haematite cylinder seal featuring two horizontal registers with worshipping parades comprising long-robed male priests wearing ankle-length garments, seated on the stool-shaped throne, elegantly raising their left hands to hold a cup; other male priests in long garments either holding a vessel containing holy water or oil, or standing in a solemn gesture with hands raised or clasped in front of their chests. 5.26 grams, 32 mm



Acquired in the 1990s. Ex West London family collection. Property of a Bristol, UK, gentleman.

Iconographies and religious scenes seen on Early Dynastic seals are renowned for the further elaborations that depict contesting scenes, usually portraying nude heroes confronting bull-men or rampant, roaring lions. However, animals and heroes were not employed as the favourite motifs during the last part of the Early Dynastic period. Increased popularity of funerary art and banquets were richly practised in Ur, given an ample amount of royal cylinder seals that bear banquet or seated-king related scenes. On Early Dynastic cylinder seals, the image of a seated male figure holding a cup cannot always be interpreted with an extender divinity. It might have suggested a ruler's identity within a royal banquet scene. However, on this seal, the holy vessel and the representations of male worshippers indicate a clear religious significance. Within the traditional Mesopotamian religion, secular kings would have obtained divine power if they had engaged with the goddess Inanna during a sacred marriage. The cup, containing holy ointment or oil, held in the king's hand, might have been as an emblem to signify the elevated rank of a deified king. It might also have been used as an alternative religious practice, connecting the secular authority and the divine power during the Early Dynastic period.

Translucent with a roughly U-shaped cross-section, graduated decorative wheel-cut facets composed of larger circles to the base, followed by smaller ovals, lozenges and fan-shapes towards the neck. 185 grams, 91 mm



London art market, 1986. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.11887-206403.

A bowl of this type, produced in Sassanian Persia, is displayed in the Shosoin shrine in Nara, Japan, an evidence of early trade links between Persia and East Asia.