A BACTRIAN OR EAST IRANIAN BLACK CHLORITE MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURE

CIRCA 2200 B.C.

Details

A BACTRIAN OR EAST IRANIAN BLACK CHLORITE MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURE
circa 2200 b.c.
The composite figure of massive proportions, with broad rounded shoulders and a large oval head, his left arm bent and held at his side, with a small rectangular vessel held in his open palm, his right arm once-inserted, now-missing, his midriff bulging above the long tang once inserted into a skirt of a different material, his oval face with recessed eyes, once inlaid, a long inlaid "scar" diagonally across the right side of his face, a now-missing inlay on his left cheek, with a curly beard extending from ear to ear, formed of small dotted circles, his hairless narrow lips pierced, his hair rendered by incised zig-zag, a drilled mortise and projecting tenon at the top of the head for attachment of a now-missing cap
4¼ in. (10.8 cm) high

Provenance

Foroughi Collection
Ishiguro Collection

Literature

Ghirshman, "otes Iraniennes XII, Statuettes Archaïques du Fars (Iran)," Artibus Asiae, vol. XXVI, 1963, fig. 9-10.

Lot Essay

According to Ghirshman, this piece was found in a cache of six similar figures. Of the group, this fragmentary example is one of the largest; those preserved in their entirety are the same height as our incomplete figure. Each example differs considerably. This most closely resembles one acquired by the Louvre in 1961 (p. 36 in Caubet & Bernus-Taylor, The Louvre, Near Eastern Antiquities). The Louvre example has a similar face and is inserted below the breast into a limestone skirt. A figure once in the Schuster Collection, sold at Sotheby's London in 1989, also has a limestone skirt. The present example differs from the others in that it lacks the "scales" or hair on the body.

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