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LOT 1089
Western Asiatic Stone Macehead
3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.
3 1/4 in. (310 grams, 83 mm).
With plain globular body and circular short shaft.
ProvenanceEx London, UK, collection, 1990-2000s.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
See Gorelik, M., Weapons of Ancient East, IV millennium BC-IV century BC, Saint Petersburg, 2003, pl.XXX, no.47, mace of a deity, detail of the image on the “Stela of Kites” Eanatuma, Ngirsu, mid-3rd millennium B.C.
FootnotesThe mace in the Middle East was of great importance, and widely used in fighting activities at the end of the 4th millennium B.C. Many maces of simple spherical or pear-shaped profile have been found there, and they were quickly utilised by the military commanders as symbol of power and rank; limestone maces are still attested in the Marlik culture of 14th-10th century B.C.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 1089
Western Asiatic Stone Macehead
Estimate £100 - 140€120 - 160 (for guidance only)$140 - 190 (for guidance only)
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Achaemenid Silver Phiale with Central Rosette
5th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £4,680
Squat lotiform bowl with wide everted rim, central domed mesomphalos with rosette detailing, traces of gilding. 283 grams, 20.7 cm wide
English private collection, formed 1940s. Private collection, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12795-241325. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This bowl is possibly part of a set of nearly identical vessels, probably used at the table of royal Satrapes. Persian governors used banquets to display their wealth and power by imitating the royal banquets. It was a greater honour for them to receive a drinking vessel such as this as a gift from the King of the Kings – establishing one’s status as a royal dinner guest. No doubt it took practice to drink adeptly from a vessel like this: however the omphalos in the base would have made it easier to hold with one hand, with the middle finger hooked inside the indentation and the thumb stretched out to grip the vessel at or near the rim. -
Syrian Hematite Cylinder Seal with Scorpions
1800-1500 B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,105
With scorpions and restrung pair of red stone beads, old handwritten label '1628'; accompanied by an 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 Hematite, 18x9.5 mm. This seal shows three rows of three scorpions, the middle row facing the opposite direction from the other two. This is a Syrian seal c. 1800-1500 B.C., of an unusual type. It is in fine state of preservation, and the insects are well engraved. The scorpion was a divine symbol ln the Ancient Near East, but in Syria it is not known of which deity it was the symbol. The design is in fact very old, being found in Jemdet Nasr seals c. 3000 B.C., and in Syria artists copied older motifs on many occasions.'; accompanied by a museum-quality impression. 5.4 grams, 18 mm
UK private collection, acquired 1980-1983. Accompanied by a copy of a scholarly note, typed and signed by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert in 1992. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato. -
Nishapur Cream-Glazed Calligraphic Bowl
10th-13th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Funnel-shaped with stepped foot, cream-glazed inner face with bold orange Kufic script motif; repaired. 324 grams, 17.2 cm wide
From the private family collection of Ersula Barter-Hemmerich, the longest serving member of staff working at the United Nations, her private collection formed in the 1950s and 1960s; thence by descent to her grandson. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
