Western Asiatic Stone Stamp Seal Group

Carved in the half-round as a stylised animal head, restrung with round red stone beads at each end, accompanied by an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1970-1993, which states: 'Stamp Seal of White Marble, 20 x 24 x 7.5 mm. This seal has the form of a lion's head on the top side, cut from a pebble with snout, mouth, eyes and ears marked by cuts in the stone. It is pierced from top to bottom in the middle. The flat base is engraved with five animals done mostly with the drill. One horned animal, and three springing rodents and one sheep (?) can be made out. Five almost vertical lines, four between the animals, one in the centre, probably represent snakes. This is a seal of the Jemdet Nasr period, c. 3000 B.C., from Sumer or south-west Iran, and is in very good state of preservation. It is an interesting example of sculpture from the dawn of history'; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 6.9 grams total, seal: 24.5 mm



Ex Mr K. Kobayashi, Galerie Archaique Ltd, Osaka, Japan, prior to 1988. Accompanied by a copy of an old scholarly note, typed and signed by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology, University of Birmingham, 1990.

Pillow-shaped with incised grid to the broad faces, dense cuneiform pictographic text in the columns with impressed pellet numerals. 45.6 grams, 63 mm



Percy Barnevik, Sweden. Private collection, UK, acquired June 2000. with Sam Fogg, London. Acquired by the current owner from the above, 2015. Accompanied by a copy of Professor Lambert’s notes and two-page cataloguing report. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13429-259930.

Various collections of cuneiform tablets form a corpus of texts mainly of administrative nature, from the Uruk III and Ur III periods. The proto-cuneiform, as a system of proto-writing, emerged in Mesopotamia ca.3500-3200 BC, during the Uruk period.

Comprising: discoid token with incised chevrons; iridescent glass counter; terracotta bird figure with impressed texture; stone scarab fragment with incuse text to underside and impression. 25.6 grams total, 11-42 mm



From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.