Western Asiatic Silver Drinking Bowl

With frieze of robed figures in procession; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 1.16 grams, 14 mm



Ex Cotswold collection, UK, 1980-1990. Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Restrung designer necklace of three strands connected by a median vertical column; comprising mainly gold tubular beads with ribbing to the outer face, polyhedral carnelian beads, irregular green glass beads, square-section lapis lazuli beads and other types; the lower node a larger polyhedral lapis lazuli bead with a loop of barrel-shaped gold beads and other types. 78 grams, 57 cm



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

Modelled in the half-round with hollow reverse; thick band of hair above the brow, small deep-set eyes, broad nose and mouth with three raised bands extending to a short beard; mounted on a custom-made stand. 128 grams total, 11.5 cm including stand



London art market, 1995. Private collection, Switzerland. Private collection, London. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12971-245208.

Humbaba (or Huwawa) was a demon of Mesopotamian legend, most famously described in the Epic of Gilgamesh. He was appointed by the god Enlil as the terrifying guardian of the Cedar Forest, a place of the gods. His grotesque features, with glaring eyes and monstrous expressions, were said to strike fear into anyone who saw him. Babylonian representations of Humbaba often emphasise this fierce appearance, with distorted facial traits designed to ward off evil. Such images could serve an apotropaic purpose, protecting people and places from harm, while also evoking one of the most memorable figures of Babylonian mythology.