Western Asiatic Stone Cylinder Seal

A Nabataean or Hellenistic libation table with drum-shaped body and four stub legs ending in bovine hooves; circumferential bands of egg-and-dart ornament, ropework ornament to the rim, dished upper face to accept votive offerings. 19.2 kg, 25 cm



Ex Paris collection. French gallery, Paris, 1990-2000s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11927-209636.

Rooms in Greek and Roman houses were largely devoid of furniture, and instead more emphasis was given to the display of works of art: mosaic floors, wall paintings, and freestanding bronze and marble sculpture. However, domestic altars have been found in various Greek and Roman houses (especially in Pompeii). This unusual small table with its elaborate support was likely to have been used to deposit fruit, sweets and other types of small gifts as offerings. Such tables were used in all the Greek and provincial Roman world, even by the Nabataean Arabs during the Roman period.

With incised frieze of a seated figure in tiered garment facing a standing figure in floor-length garment, second figure behind with arms crossed at the chest, blank space to the rear to accept text. 4.1 grams, 21 mm



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector; ; collection no.067. London collection, 2016.

Restrung with three central feature beads; composed of graduated beads of various types of stone, glass and shell. 19.5 grams, 44 cm long



UK gallery, early 2000s.

Similar 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.