A NEO-ASSYRIAN BRONZE PAZUZU

CIRCA 7TH CENTURY B.C.

Details

A NEO-ASSYRIAN BRONZE PAZUZU
CIRCA 7TH CENTURY B.C.
The demon with his characteristic leonine head, bulging eyes and grimacing expression, standing on avian legs, the scales on his body rendered by stippling, his leonine forepaws raised in a menacing gesture, with a looped scorpion tail and four wings at his back, on an integral thin oval plinth, his head surmounted by a suspension loop
3 1/8 in. (7.9 cm.) high

Provenance

with Nina Borowski, Paris, 1970.

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Lot Essay

Amulets depicting the demon Pazuzu, the son of the west wind, were worn by women in labor for protection against the female demon Lamashtu. The amulets, either of bronze or stone, are usually in the form of the head of Pazuzu, while complete figures are comparatively rare. For similar examples see pl. 14a in Vittmann, Ägypten und die Fremden im ersten vorchristlichen Jahrtausend and p. 34 in Caubet and Bernus-Taylor, The Louvre, Near Eastern Antiquities.

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