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LOT 1164
Western Asiatic Stone and Other Bead Collection
CIRCA 1ST MILLENNIUM B.C. AND LATER
1/8 - 5/8 in. (15.5 grams total, 2-15 mm).
Composed of graduated beads of various types of white stone, rock crystal, glass, coral and shell. [150, No Reserve]
ProvenanceUK gallery, early 2000s.
LiteratureCf. Hussein, M.M., Altaweel, M., Gibson, McGuire, Nimrud The Queen’s Tombs, Baghdad-Chicago, 2016, pls.163 and 164, for similar bead necklaces made of a mixture of stones, included faience.
FootnotesSimilar beads were found during the excavations of the royal tombs of Nimrud. Thousands of beads were discovered in the sarcophagi, including those of Nimrud’s Queens; they probably originally formed part of wide collars with multiple strands.
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AUCTIONS:
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Western Asiatic Bronze Amuletic Bead
2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
One side engraved with two opposing figures engaged in a fight with swords; the opposite side with geometric motifs; pierced longitudinally. 6.18 grams, 13 mm
From an important collection formed before 1988, London and Geneva. -
Phoenician Bronze Figure of Astarte
Early 1st millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £61
With hands raised, wearing a floral headdress and standing on a discoid base. 13.8 grams, 54 mm
From the collection of a gentleman, acquired on the London art market in the 1990s. -
Mesopotamian Bronze Javelin Head
3rd-2nd millennium B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
With foliate blade, rhomboidal in section, raised mid-rib, medium length stem widening at its base and forming a small stop, rectangulat-section tang with bent terminal. 198 grams, 36 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.
The specimen belongs to the category of tripartite spears with long pointed biconvex blade and single bevelled tang. They seem to be a Mesopotamian and Susian (Elamite) variant, and this type also includes decorated blades, like the spear from Tello with the inscription 'King of Kish'.
