Western Asiatic Polished Bronze Bowl

Frieze including two standing attendants in flounced floor-length robes before a laden table and a seated figure in similar robes, the seated figure drinking from a vessel through a drinking pipe, behind him a stag with a small animal between its legs, a border of pellets above and below; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 21.9 grams, 40 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Including a blue glass mask with applied red detailing, a turned bone baluster, cuboid bead with holes to all four sides and other items. 15.7 grams total, 11-31 mm



From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s.

Spherical, undecorated bulla envelope containing clay tokens. 74 grams, 50 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. Accompanied by a previous cataloguing slip.

Small globular and hollow clay balls are defined as 'bulla'. They are also known as ‘bulla-envelopes', some of which are plain and some displaying epigraphic, zoomorphic and/or figural decoration, impressed by either cylinder or stamp seals. Bullae first emerged in Mesopotamia, and their earliest occurrence can be traced to circa 8000 B.C. Most known decorated bullae come from the Uruk area and offer an insight into its culture.