Western Asiatic Stone Stamp Seal with Goats

With drilled design of larger and smaller pellets regularly placed. 19.5 grams, 22 mm



Acquired 1970s-1996. Property of a North American collector; collection no.068. London collection, 2016.

With detailed frieze including a standing figure with tall helmet, raising his arm to strike a similar figure with both hands raised, bird above the scene and ankh below, smaller combat scene below with beast and kneeling figure with an axe; guilloche and other items in the field; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 4.04 grams, 18 mm



From an important London, UK, collection, 1970-1990. Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

With conical body, the inner face bearing concentric rings of inked magical Aramaic text, repaired. 357 grams, 19 cm wide



Ex Family collection, London, UK, pre 1988.

Aramaic incantation bowls are particular to the Sassanian period and have been found in regions of modern Iraq. These simple ceramic bowls, also known as magic bowls, each contain an Aramaic inscription, written in ink, which spirals from the centre. The bowls seem to have played an important part in domestic life. For example, during excavation in Nippur in 1889, one or more incantation bowls were found in each house together with domestic artefacts, most often in doorways or under floorboards in the corner of rooms. The bowls are predominantly apotropaic, and the inscriptions tend to protect their owners from misfortunes such as those faced in child-birth, illness and evil spirits.