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LOT 1222
Western Asiatic Limestone Mortar
1ST MILLENNIUM B.C.
5 1/4 in. (4.85 kg, 13 cm).
With short columnar base and bulbous upper body, broad rim with pouring lip. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.
Cf. Squitieri. A., Eitam, D. (ed.), Stone tools in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Ground stone tools, rock-cut installations and stone vessels from Prehistory to Late Antiquity, Oxford, 2019, pp. 237-238, and 275, for examples of similar type.
FootnotesThe later (2nd -3rd century A.D.) Rabbinic tradition emphasised the difference between the permanent mortar (makhtesh kevua) and the movable one (makhtesh metaltelet), with the first being automatically sold with the house, but the second sold only if expressly stated by the vendor. This form of movable mortar was common in the Levant throughout the second half of the 1st millennium B.C.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Western Asiatic Green Glass Cylinder Seal with Entertainment Scene
Early 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £715
With frieze of entertainers: standing nude figure with curly hair holding a syrinx to her mouth facing a seated nude female playing a curved lyre; to her rear, three nude female dancers; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 16.55 grams, 31 mm
From the property of late Mr SM, London, UK, 1970-1990s, thence by descent. 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.
Glass is very rarely used in this period for cylinder seals. -
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Very Large Western Asiatic Stone Stamp Seal with Animal
2nd-1st millennium B.C.Estimate: £400 - 600 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £222
Discoid in plan with tiered handle and transverse hole, with gusset to the upper face, chamfered shoulder; underside with intaglio image of a stag with legs bent beneath the body, objects in the field; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 109 grams, 49 mm
Collected from 1969-1999. From the collection of the late Mr S.M., London, UK. -
Old Akkadian Cylinder Seal with Goat Scenes
2340-2200 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £780
Carnelian with double register; to the top a kneeling naked male facing forward with curly hair and beard, holding plants in both hands towards a pair of goats to either side; the lower register with goats either side of a central plant motif. 4.1 grams, 29 mm
From an important London collection, formed before 1990. From a collection acquired from various auction houses in the UK. From the estate of Mr R.W., a private Wiltshire, UK, collector; thence by descent.
