CIRCA 850-700 B.C.

Details

A NEO-HITTITE BASALT RELIEF FRAGMENT
CIRCA 850-700 B.C.
10.½ in. (26.6 cm.) high

Provenance

Antiquities and Islamic Art, Sotheby's, New York, 29 November 1989, lot 37.
Ambassador Edward Elliot Elson (b. 1934), Norfolk, Virginia, acquired from the above sale.
The Property of Ambassador Edward Elliot Elson; Antiquities, Christie's, New York, 4 June 2008, lot 84.

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

After the collapse of the Hittite empire in circa 1180 B.C., activity still continued in the Hittite principalities of southern Anatolia and the surrounding areas. Although the art of these states was provincial and conservative in comparison to the contemporary Assyrian works in aesthetic value, the geographical position of the late Hittite principalities meant that their works of art influenced the birth of the style known as 'oriental' in Greece at the beginning of the 7th century.
This example shows that the old Hittite artistic influences were fading and Assyrian elements were beginning to appear. The wounded lion theme, as we see here, is a motif often seen in Assyrian bas-reliefs of hunting subjects. For a similar Neo-Hittite basalt relief, cf. no. 221 in Hittite Art & Antiquities of Anatolia, The Arts Council, 1964, p. 120.

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