Western Asiatic Silver Drinking Bowl

Squat with broad rounded base, narrow neck and flared mouth; incised decoration including calligraphic text, annulets in a band, freehand image of a wolf attacking a deer. 605 grams, 12.7 cm



Believed to have been in the collection of George Adolphus Gray (c.1850), Captain of a merchant vessel and avid collector. Acquired by the present owner circa 15 years ago, reportedly recovered from a skip.

Comprising a tapering sidewall with carination and convex underside, trumpet-shaped foot with beaded rim; D-shaped thumb-pad to the rim with narrow chamfered handle and spur beneath; frieze of fronds reserved against a pounced field. 67.7 grams, 86 mm



Old Belgian private collection, 1970s. Acquired on the Brussels art market, 2008. 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.12908-242700.

Footed silver cups with ring handles were well known in Central Asia and were common in Sogdian silverwork of the 7th – 8th century A.D. The low beaded foot and the ring handle with lobed thumb rest are well documented in Sogdian silver attributed to the same period. The plant and floral decoration finds parallel with a silver bowl from Xijao (Marshak, 1999, fig.6), which shows the same low beaded foot of our cup. This decoration is also visible on a vessel from the Malaya Perescepina treasure, sent by the Emperor Heraclius to the Bulgarian Khan Kuvrat. Heraclius took it together with other precious objects as war booty after defeating the Sasanians in 627-628 A.D.

With two standing figures; accompanied by a museum quality impression and a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states:Cylinder Seal of Dark Green Stone 55 x 22 mm. The engraved are divides into two main parts. In the major part two standing human-like figures are shown with one hand joining that of the other figure and the other held at the waist as if ready for action. Between them is a small similar figure with arms outstretched. Above are two concentric circles, and sundry shapes and linear motifs fill spaces. The minor part shows two pairs of horned animals tête bêche to eath(sic) other pair. The bottom two, with rising horns, face each other; the top two (one a stag, the other with different horns) are in a line. A snake and various shapes fill the spaces. Upper and lower rules enclose the design. This is a North-Syrian or Anatolian seal, c. 2800-2400 B.C. It is exceptionally large, in very good condition, and outstanding in every way.' 47 grams, 55 mm



with Sotheby's Antiquities, London, 10-11 December 1992, no.74. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in 1992.

Seals were the working signatures of the ancient Near East. Pressed or rolled into wet clay, they secured jars, bags, doors and tablets, and left a distinct impression that identified the owner, authorised a transaction, and showed whether a container had been opened. Stamp seals (pressed once to leave a single emblem) appear from the 7th–4th millennia BC and continue throughout later periods; cylinder seals (rolled to create a repeating frieze) developed in Mesopotamia in the late 4th millennium BC and are used into the 1st millennium BC. Beyond administration, seals were miniature artworks and amulets. Their images—gods and worshippers, royal hunts, banquets, heroes and mythic beasts—broadcast rank, piety and profession, and were believed to protect the owner. Materials range from soft stones to hard chalcedonies, haematite and lapis, worked with drills and abrasives to achieve crisp intaglio cutting. Many were worn on cords or rings and followed their owners through life, sometimes into the grave. Seals matter because they underpin the earliest systems of record-keeping and trade. Impressions on tablets and bullae are primary documents for ancient law, economy and religion; the seals themselves preserve that imagery in the round. For collectors, well-cut examples with sharp impressions, good polish and honest ancient wear are especially desirable, and pieces with early collection histories are keenly sought.