Western Asiatic Mixed Agate Bead Necklace

Hollow-formed shoe-shaped jug with rolled rim to the ankle, tab with hole for thong and stopper; welt-line to upper face and around sole. 585 grams, 23 cm



Private collection, acquired on the German art market in 1993; thence by descent. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.13226-249313.

These upturned shoes are characteristic of the whole Hittite era. They are attested until the Late Hittite age. This kind of footwear appears later in the Aegean area, probably due to the influence of Anatolian fashion on Bronze Age Greek culture. It may have been the case that the Akkiyawa (Achaeans) living on the western coast of Anatolia adopted such items (as many others) from the Anatolian Indo-Europeans and exported them to the Greek lands, with the first examples attested in Greece only around the 14th century BC.

A large fragment of a pillow-shaped tablet with dense columns of cuneiform text on two sides. 105 grams, 71 mm



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. This small collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples.

Depicting a stylised face with grooved hair and small ring-and-dot eyes, a wide nose and slit mouth. 11.6 grams, 22.2 mm



From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.