WESTERN ASIATIC BACTRIAN CHALICE WITH ANIMALS 2nd millennium BC A carved steatite chalice with discoid base and flared stem, frieze of animals, leaves and a tree with enamel-filled detailing. 658 grams, 13cm (5"). Very fine condition, with museum quality repair from the 1970s. Provenance Property of a North West London gentleman; formerly with a central London gallery in 1990. Footnotes In the third millennium BC the trade in chlorite vessels occurred across enormous areas, from the Euphrates to the Indus river.This provides graphic evidence for the cultural exchange of ideas and art styles across a vast region. These objects have a distinctive repertoire of figural and geometric imagery that is related to the art of eastern Iran and appealed to cosmopolitan clientele in the emerging cities. Excavation on the island of Tarut in the Arabian Gulf has produced numerous examples of these objects, many of them unfinished, and this, together with the abundance of chlorite on the island, has led to the suggestion that it was the centre for production and export of these items. This bowl shares many similarities to one now in the British Museum (acc. No. BM 128887) which displays a hero, or "Master of the Animals," which was a favourite motif in art at the time and is found in archaic Greece, as well as the Near East. It is believed that the imagery represents order, as symbolised by the hero, overcoming chaos in the form of wild animals.
WESTERN ASIATIC BACTRIAN CHALICE WITH ANIMALS 2nd millennium BC A carved steatite chalice with discoid base and flared stem, frieze of animals, leaves and a tree with enamel-filled detailing. 658 grams, 13cm (5"). Very fine condition, with museum quality repair from the 1970s. Provenance Property of a North West London gentleman; formerly with a central London gallery in 1990. Footnotes In the third millennium BC the trade in chlorite vessels occurred across enormous areas, from the Euphrates to the Indus river.This provides graphic evidence for the cultural exchange of ideas and art styles across a vast region. These objects have a distinctive repertoire of figural and geometric imagery that is related to the art of eastern Iran and appealed to cosmopolitan clientele in the emerging cities. Excavation on the island of Tarut in the Arabian Gulf has produced numerous examples of these objects, many of them unfinished, and this, together with the abundance of chlorite on the island, has led to the suggestion that it was the centre for production and export of these items. This bowl shares many similarities to one now in the British Museum (acc. No. BM 128887) which displays a hero, or "Master of the Animals," which was a favourite motif in art at the time and is found in archaic Greece, as well as the Near East. It is believed that the imagery represents order, as symbolised by the hero, overcoming chaos in the form of wild animals.
.jpg "Source: Timeline Auctions")
.jpg "Source: Timeline Auctions")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
