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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Antiquities| ▸ |Western Asiatic Antiquities||View Options:   | | | |
Susa was settled about 4000 B.C. and has yielded striking pottery finds from that prehistoric period. A rich production followed of objects for daily use, ritual, and luxury living, finely carved in various materials or fashioned of clay. Monumental sculpture was made in stone or bronze, and dramatic friezes were composed of brilliantly glazed bricks. Among the discoveries are tiny, intricately carved cylinder seals and splendid jewelry. Clay balls marked with symbols offer fascinating testimony to the very beginnings of writing; clay tablets from later periods bearing inscriptions in cuneiform record political history, literature, business transactions, and mathematical calculations.AT23899. cf. Harper Susa fig. 133, Superb, complete and intact, c. 1500 - 1000 B.C.; Elamite Terracotta Fertility Goddess; mold made, beige clay, 15.3 cm (6") tall, standing facing holding bare breasts in cupped hands, nude but for herringbone shoulder straps crossing between the breasts, earrings, torque necklaces, and bead belly chains, navel and the pubic triangle indicated, blank reverse; ex Griffin Gallery of Ancient Art (Boca Raton FL);
Western Asiatic, Black Stone Duck Weight (7.736g), Bead, or Amulet, c. Early 1st Millennium B.C.
Carved hematite weights were made in Mesopotamia in from the Old Babylonian period until Neo Babylonian times, c. 1900 - 1600 B.C. Hematite is widely found in Syria and Turkey, but was imported into Mesopotamia because it was not found locally. After about 1600 B.C., weights made in Mesopotamia were carved from a black stone that looks similar but which is not hematite. Similar ducks were also carved in lapis lazuli, agate, carnelian and other stones. Pierced ducks may have been used as beads or amulets.AS111496. cf. Hendin Weights p. 147, 64 (similar, but hematite, 10.29g, 30 giru) and 67 (8.06g, shekel, but hematite and unpierced), Choice, surface chips, 7.736g, 12.6x22.7x14.1mm, c. early 1st Millennium B.C.; reverse carved black stone (not hematite), the form of stylized duck, its head and neck turned back, hugging the body with the head resting flat on the center of the back, pierced crosswise below the neck and head, flat base; ex Collector Antiquities (Dr. Bron Lipkin, London, UK, 2012);
Sumerian, Sumer (Mesopotamia), Diyala Region, Carved Stone Bowl, Pre-Sargonid - Early Dynastic, 3000 - 2500 B.C.
Carved steatite vessels with geometric motifs were used in the temple of Sin in the Diyala region and the temple of Inanna in Kerman.AC34353. Carved gray-green steatite bowl, Choice, 4.0 cm (1 5/8") tall, exterior rim diameter 9.4 cm (3 3/4"); cylindrical straight walls from a flat base to a rimless mouth, sides covered with a incised linear semi-circle water-waves pattern ornamentation, two horizontal lines at base; very rare; SOLD
Sumerian, Sumer (Mesopotamia), Diyala Region, Carved Stone Bowl, Pre-Sargonid - Early Dynastic, 3000 - 2500 B.C.
Carved steatite vessels with geometric motifs were used in the temple of Sin in the Diyala Region and the temple of Inanna in Kerman. AAC34354. Carved gray-green steatite bowl, Choice, 5.5 cm (2 1/8") tall, exterior rim diameter 9.4 cm (3 5/8"); cylindrical walls gently expanding from a flat base to a rimless mouth, ornamented with incised parallel horizontal lines covering sides completely; complete, intact, scratches; SOLD
Mesopotamia, Clay Cuneiform Tablet, c. 2400 - 700 B.C.
Ancient Mesopotamia and Sumerian culture are the "cradle of civilization." Man's recording of history, science, mathematics, and literature began with clay and a reed stylus. Only a small percentage of tablets have been translated. Reading cuneiform is extremely difficult and a word for word translation is often impossible. Often it is only possible to get the gist of a tablet. Most are receipts for payments in kind, the number of lambs, goats, or oxen donated to a temple, for example. This tablet is untranslated but it is perhaps this type of receipt.AS87307. Buff clay, 5.27 x 4.36 cm; complete and intact, from an American Collection, ex Edgar L. Owen Ltd. (2012), ex collection of a New York City professional entertainer (acquired in 1980's); SOLD
Syria - Persia, Bronze Bull Head Amulet or Weight (7.717g), c. 1500 - 650 B.C.
Bull head pendants were popular across the ancient world. The Hilprecht Collection of Greek, Italic, and Roman Bronzes in the University of Pennsylvania Museum, pl. 4, fig. 46 is a very similar Etruscan bull head pendant. The referenced amulet from Luristan is not as similar but, according to an old handwritten tag, this pendant originated in Iran.
Hendin notes that zoomorphic bronze weights adhering to various standards have been found throughout the Aegaean and Levant, as well as Cyprus. Hafford suggests a Syrian origin for some or even most of the zoomorphic weights (Hafford 2002, p. 505 - 7). This bronze might be a weight but, we believe, it is more likely simply an amulet.AS111480. Bronze bull head amulet or weight; cf. Holmes Expedition pl. 175, f (Luristan, pendant); Hendin Weights 161 (9.40g, weight), Choice, nice green patina, 7.717g, 21.8mm, attractive style with well modeled horns, eyes, nose, and mouth, looped for suspension at the back of the head, ex The Time Machine (Mark E. Reid); SOLD
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