A MESOPOTAMIAN STEATITE SPECTACLE IDOL

SYRIA, CIRCA 3000-2500 B.C.

Details

A MESOPOTAMIAN STEATITE SPECTACLE IDOL
SYRIA, CIRCA 3000-2500 B.C.
The rectangular architectonic base with curving shoulders, sculpted on all four sides with a tiered facade, composed of several friezes including hatching, beading, zigzag, and crosshatching, centered by a doorway on each long side with a concave upper surface, the disk "eyes" above the waisted rectangular neck
5 7/8 in. (14.9 cm.) high

Provenance

with Elie Borowski, Basel, 1965.

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Lot Essay

Because this facade scene is found on stone objects from Mesopotamia, Syria, Iran and the Persian Gulf, the style is known as "Intercultural." For a vessel from Bahrain with a related facade see no. 239, p. 341 in Aruz, ed., Art of the Fist Cities, The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus.

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