.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
While composite creatures are well known across the ancient Near East, the only close parallel to this piece occurs in a bronze axehead in the George Ortiz collection, cf. Exhibition catalogue, Afghanistan, une histoire millénaire, Barcelona and Paris, 2001-2002, p. 204, said to come from Daulatab, near Balkh in northern Afghanistan. Here the same man-eagle giant wearing kilt and pendant necklace appears holding, in each massive hand, an ibex by the horns. The date of the axehead is given as circa 2000 B.C.
The script on the above seal is clearly a form of the so-called Elamite linear script, which was used in Elam for a short period only, circa 2200-1900 B.C. Four of the five symbols written here have a parallel in Elam. The variation in angle and number of strokes is to be expected in scripts from such widely separated places.
The script on the above seal is clearly a form of the so-called Elamite linear script, which was used in Elam for a short period only, circa 2200-1900 B.C. Four of the five symbols written here have a parallel in Elam. The variation in angle and number of strokes is to be expected in scripts from such widely separated places.