A SOUTH ARABIAN ALABASTER LIDDED "BEEHIVE" JAR

CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.

Details

A SOUTH ARABIAN ALABASTER LIDDED "BEEHIVE" JAR
CIRCA 3RD CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.
Conical in form, on a flat base, with a short cylindrical rim and twin stylized bull-head handles perforated horizontally, the lid surmounted by a standing lion, also perforated
6 in. (15.2 cm.) high

Provenance

German Private Collection, 1980.

Lot Essay

More than seventy "beehive" vessels have been published, most coming from the southwest of the Arabian peninsula. One inscribed example (p. 56 in Simpson, Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality), confirms that "these were indeed used in the incense trade, and that they may even be regarded as branded packaging for one of the most desirable commodities of ancient Arabia."

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