Interiors & Decorations

Jewellery & Precious Stones

Watches, Pens & Lighters

Fashion

Coins & Stamps

Comics & Animation

Classic Cars, Motorcycles & Automobilia

Wine, Whisky & Spirits

Asian & Tribal Art

Trading Cards

Toys & Models

Archaeology & Natural History

Sports

Music, Movies & Cameras

Books & Historical Memorabilia

The finest objects brought to you by {name}

Ruth Garrido Vila

Important female head. 

Mesopotamia · 3rd millennium BC

Grey stone

Height 8 cm

Provenance:

- Private collection, Professor Hans and Mrs. Maire-Louise Erlenmeyer, Basel (Switzerland), acquired between 1943 and the early 1960s.

Professor Hans Erlenmeyer (March 20, 1900, Strasbourg - May 29, 1967, Basel) was a respected Swiss-German chemist, a member of a lineage of German chemists, and a professor of inorganic chemistry who came to direct the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry in Basel.

Along with his second wife, Marie-Louise Erlenmeyer (née Binder, 1912-1997), he was a passionate collector of antiquities, especially prehistoric and ancient art from Greece and Mesopotamia. Between 1943 and 1967 they amassed a considerable collection, including important groups of Mediterranean and Near Eastern cylinder seals and texts, as well as part of the Keros hoard, which they purchased in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Erlenmeyer Painter, a painter of Corinthian vases, he was named after a vase in his collection. Part of his collection was loaned to the Basel Museum of Antiquities, as well as to major international exhibitions, and the Erlenmeyer themselves contributed scholarly articles on the field of archeology to scientific publications.

In 1981 Marie-Louise founded the Erlenmeyer Foundation, a charity dedicated to the protection of animal welfare, which managed her collection of antiquities.

The collection was for the most part auctioned off in a series of auctions at Christie's and Sotheby's between 1988 and 1998.

- Cahn International AG, Basel, Switzerland.
- Galerie Harmakhis, acquired from Cahn at the TEFAF fair, on March 17, 2015 for CHF 55,000. (Invoice preserved) 
- Art Market, UK, purchased from Galerie Harmakhis.

Condition
Good state of conservation, with erosion on the surface. Assembled from two pieces, the seam is visible as a line running diagonally across the entire head. Small chips, loss in the upper right part of the head.

Sumerian head carved from a gray stone, belonging to a full-length statue that probably represented a woman of the royal family. Her hair, worked through fine parallel incisions, forming soft waves, is shoulder-length, and is collected in a bun on the crown of her head. Her head is adorned with a wide band, with three grooves or folds, possibly representing a textile headdress. Her face is slender, with prominent cheekbones, a straight and thin, triangular nose, and a mouth outlining a smile. Her eyes are large, excavated to accommodate inlays of colored stone or glass, which would add expressiveness to the look. Her eyebrows, large and arched, are highlighted by parallel straight incisions and occupy most of the forehead. Her ears are recessed, with her hair adapting to her shape, which suggests that, originally, the figure could have been adorned with earrings applied to another material. Her chin is decorated with a raised circle, with a central hole, perhaps also originally ornamented with some type of applied material. Finally, her neck appears covered by incised wavy lines, similar to those that represent hair, which wrap around it like a necklace.

These features are characteristic of Mesopotamian statuary from the 3rd millennium BC. It is common to find the narrow forehead, almost hidden by the hairstyle or headdress and by the eyebrows, as well as the delicate smile (fig. 1). Sumerian male sculptures generally feature either a shaved head or a royal turban framing the head. However, women can wear their hair loose around the face, framing the ears adorned with earrings and collected on the nape or crown of the head. A head with a similar arrangement to that of the piece under study can be found in the British Museum (fig. 2).

The combination of different materials in the same sculpture is common in ancient civilizations, from Mesopotamia to Rome, passing through Greece. The contrast of textures and colors brought liveliness to the representations, made them richer and more expressive. It is unusual for more than one of these materials to be preserved (fig. 3), but the way in which pieces such as the head under study appear worked makes it easy to deduce the use of inlays to enrich the representation (fig. 4).

Sumer is the oldest known civilization of Mesopotamia. It arose from the Chalcolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age, between the 6th and 5th millennia B.C., and its proto-writing dates from before the year 3000 B.C. The first city-states in the area began to appear in prehistoric times, although documents are not preserved until the III Early Dynastic Period, around the 23rd century BC, with the Akkadian Kingdom. The Sumerians developed a material culture of great wealth and importance, both historically and artistically, key to the development of later civilizations in the area. Most of the preserved Sumerian objects are ceramic, although important pieces of precious metal have also been found. Stones such as lapis lazuli, marble, or diorite were highly prized and only obtained through trade routes, so they were reserved for use in sculpture.

Published: 

- Christie's. The Standofrd Place Collection of Antiquities. London. April 26, 2006, lot 61.
-Christie's. Antiquities. London. April 14, 2011, lot 309.
-Christie's. Antiquities. London. April 26, 2012, lot 151.

Notes: 

The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki.
The piece includes authenticity certificate. 
The piece includes Spanish Export License (Passport for European Union) - If the piece is destined outside the European Union a substitution of the export permit should be requested. 
#masterpieces




3rd millennium BC - Unknown

Mesopotamian Stone head. Published. Ex. Christie's, ex. Cahn, ex. TEFAF and with Spanish Export.

Archaeology

Reserve price

No reserve price

Buy now

Budget

From

Closing date

Sunday

tomorrow

Saturday

today

Monday

26 April

Friday

12 April

Location

United Kingdom

Spain

France

Belgium

The Netherlands

Austria

Germany

Italy

Denmark

Hong Kong

United States

Poland

Luxembourg

Romania

Taiwan

Israel

Norway

Portugal

Dimensions

Height

Width

Depth

Object

Ring

Ancient artwork

Ancient tools

Pendant

Ancient jewellery and beads

Vase

Relic

Ancient sculptures carvings and figurines

Arrow head

Ancient vessels

Sculpture

Carved mineral

Cameo

Bracelet

Bowl

Ancient seals and stamps

Hair pin

Armour helmet

Ancient weapons and armour

Candlestick

Figure

Statue

Plaque

Country of origin

Europe

Netherlands

Unknown

Egypt

Canada

China

Switzerland

Greece

Sweden

Dominican Republic

Niger

Japan

Mali

Morocco

Material

Bronze

Terracotta

Silver

Pottery

Glass

Faience

Ceramic

Flint

Earthenware

Iron

Stoneware

Gold

Stone

Alabaster

Marble

Steatite

Lead

Carnelian

Yellow gold

Bone

Schist

Wood

Stucco

Leather

Sandstone

Gender

Unisex

Condition

Good

Excellent

Very good

Very good +

Very good condition - slightly used with small signs of wear

Good condition - used with some signs of wear

Fair

Excellent condition: barely used with minimal signs of wear

Fair condition - used with visible signs of wear

Good condition - used with small signs of aging & blemishes

Excellent condition - barely used with minimal signs of wear

As new - unused

Excellent condition

Poor

Good condition - used with small signs of ageing

Unissued/As new

Fair condition, see description

Good condition

Good condition, see description

Ungraded

Vintage - used with visible signs of wear

Fair condition -  heavily used & with possibly minor parts missing

Poor - heavily used with major cracks, damages or major parts missing

Used but like new

Period

1850-1900

1800-1850

1960-1970

1950-1960

1650-1700

1970-1980

1990-2000

1600-1650

2010-2020

Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- 220 A.D.)

Northern Song (960-1127)

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

Tang Dynasty (618-907)

1940-1950

1980-1990

Song Dynasty

1400-1450

1550-1600

2026

Diamond

Jade

Certification

No laboratory report

Fineness

18 kt.

Style

Ancient Roman

Ancient Egyptian

Viking Era

Medieval, Crusaders Era

Medieval

Neolithic

Byzantine

Ancient Roman, Empire

Ancient Greek

Post-medieval

Celtic

Ancient Chinese, Tang Dynasty

Antique

Bronze Age

Bactrian

Islamic

Ancient Chinese, Han dynasty

Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom

Ancient Greek, Magna Graecia

Mesopotamian

Sasanian

Ancient Chinese

Western Asiatic

Late Roman/Early Byzantine

Archaeology

This object is no longer available, but there’s still lots to explore

Mesopotamian Stone head. Published. Ex. Christie's, ex. Cahn, ex. TEFAF and with Spanish Export.

Popular in Archaeology

1104 objects

Related collections