JEMDET NASR, CIRCA 3100-2900 B.C.

Details

A MESOPOTAMIAN BLACK STONE BEAR HEAD
JEMDET NASR, CIRCA 3100-2900 B.C.
With white stone inlaid eyes and dimples at the corners of its mouth, incised nostrils
1¼ in. (3.2 cm.) long

Provenance

French private collection, 1960s.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

For a roaring bear head amulet in black stone with inlaid eye cf. G. Zahlhaas, Out of Noah's Ark, Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection, Mainz, 1997, p. 102, no. 75, and for a crouching figure of a bear in alabaster cf. H. Weiss (ed.), Ebla to Damascus, Washington, 1985, p. 119, no. 44. Bears were common in Syria and numerous representations, presumably as votives, have been found near the Eye Temple at Tell Brak.

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