Other Ancient Cultures Division

Image Code A02

Catalogue No.: A02 Description: Early North African Pottery Fragment with incised depiction of a quadruped. Size: 130 X 70mm.

Image Code A08 Image Code A08a

Catalogue No.: A08 Description: Ethiopian Protective Scroll on Vellum 17th – 18th century Ethiopian scrolls were written on vellum in Ge'ez. Ethiopian gospel scrolls, often referred to as ‘magic scrolls’, were believe to hold protective and healing powers, and were carried by the owner at all times. Each one was designed for the individual patron. Inscribed with prayers, spells and charms, the text was often excerpted from sacred books such as Gospels. The Ethiopian church tolerated their production in spite of their connection to magical practices. Clients commissioned their scrolls for diverse reasons, using them to undo spells, restore health, combat sterility and even ward off demons. The dabtara, or ordained cleric responsible for producing the object, specifically tailored the size and content of the scroll to the physical and spiritual characteristics of his client, using painted decoration to enhance the scrolls protective properties The process began with the selection and sacrifice of a particular animal. The dabtara washed the client in the animals’ blood as part of the process of purification. Three strips of parchment were then made from the skin of the animal and stitched together to form a single scroll equal in length to the height of its owner. The object, therefore, maintained a direct, physical connection to its owner, enhancing the power of its magic. Size: 92mm X long.

Image Code A09 Image Code A09a

Catalogue No.: A09 Description: Ethiopian Protective Scroll on Vellum 17th – 18th century Ethiopian scrolls were written on vellum in Ge'ez. Ethiopian gospel scrolls, often referred to as ‘magic scrolls’, were believe to hold protective and healing powers, and were carried by the owner at all times. Each one was designed for the individual patron. Inscribed with prayers, spells and charms, the text was often excerpted from sacred books such as Gospels. The Ethiopian church tolerated their production in spite of their connection to magical practices. Clients commissioned their scrolls for diverse reasons, using them to undo spells, restore health, combat sterility and even ward off demons. The dabtara, or ordained cleric responsible for producing the object, specifically tailored the size and content of the scroll to the physical and spiritual characteristics of his client, using painted decoration to enhance the scrolls protective properties The process began with the selection and sacrifice of a particular animal. The dabtara washed the client in the animals’ blood as part of the process of purification. Three strips of parchment were then made from the skin of the animal and stitched together to form a single scroll equal in length to the height of its owner. The object, therefore, maintained a direct, physical connection to its owner, enhancing the power of its magic. Size: 79mm X long.

Image Code A10 Image Code A10a

Catalogue No.: A10 Description: Ethiopian Protective Scroll on Vellum 17th – 18th century Ethiopian scrolls were written on vellum in Ge'ez. Ethiopian gospel scrolls, often referred to as ‘magic scrolls’, were believe to hold protective and healing powers, and were carried by the owner at all times. Each one was designed for the individual patron. Inscribed with prayers, spells and charms, the text was often excerpted from sacred books such as Gospels. The Ethiopian church tolerated their production in spite of their connection to magical practices. Clients commissioned their scrolls for diverse reasons, using them to undo spells, restore health, combat sterility and even ward off demons. The dabtara, or ordained cleric responsible for producing the object, specifically tailored the size and content of the scroll to the physical and spiritual characteristics of his client, using painted decoration to enhance the scrolls protective properties The process began with the selection and sacrifice of a particular animal. The dabtara washed the client in the animals’ blood as part of the process of purification. Three strips of parchment were then made from the skin of the animal and stitched together to form a single scroll equal in length to the height of its owner. The object, therefore, maintained a direct, physical connection to its owner, enhancing the power of its magic. Size: 103mm X long.

Image Code A11

Catalogue No.: A11 Description: Ancient Aksumite Copper Lion. Late 1st millennium BC. Rare copper figurine in the form of a lion from the ancient Ethiopian civilisation known as the Aksumites. The ancient city of Aksum was established at about the time of the reign of Queen Sheba (known as Saba or Makeda by Ethiopians) in the 6th Century BC. The Aksumite state flourished throughout the early Christian era and during the succeeding centuries until undergoing a prolonged decline from the 8th-12th century AD. The Aksumites were renowned for their fine architectures, crafts and skills as masons and metalworkers. Copper; 57mm. Aksum, Ethiopia. Size: 62 X 47mm.

Image Code A12

Catalogue No.: A12 Description: Ordos Silver Coated Bronze Knife with Panther Finial. Eastern Steppe, Mongolia, c. late 1st millennium BC. Size: 171 X 26mm.

Image Code A13

Catalogue No.: A13 Description: Ordos Silver Coated Bronze Knife with Panther Finial. Eastern Steppe, Mongolia, c. late 1st millennium BC. Size: 174 X 25mm.

Image Code A14

Catalogue No.: A14 Description: Ordos Silver Coated Bronze Knife with Avian Form Finial and impressed Rabbit motifs to the handle. Eastern Steppe, Mongolia, c. late 1st millennium BC Size: 195 X 32mm.

Image Code A15

Catalogue No.: A15 Description: Mesopotamian Cuneiform Script Foundation Cone. C. early 2nd millennium BC. This is an intact piece of tapering conical form with sharp and well formed registers of cuneiform script. Cuneiform or wedge-shaped writing, was first developed by the Sumerians some 5000 years ago. The angular forms of this script made it suitable for impressing into wet clay by means of a split reed. These tablets were extensively used in trade and commerce and contain information including economic texts, mathematics, inventories as well as legal and business transactions. Size: 108 X 44mm.

Image Code A16

Catalogue No.: A16 Description: Anatolian Engraved Beads Depicting Snakes. Indurated Limestone. Bronze Age, ca 2500 BC. Anatolia. 2 pieces. Size: 220mm dia.

Image Code A17

Catalogue No.: A17 Description: Mesopotamian Clay Tablet with Cuneiform Script. Old Babylonian Period c. 1900 – 1700 BC. Cuneiform or wedge-shaped writing, was first developed by the Sumerians some 5000 years ago. The angular forms of this script made it suitable for impressing into wet clay by means of a split reed. These tablets were extensively used in trade and commerce and contain information including economic texts, mathematics, inventories as well as legal and business transactions. Size: 41 X 35mm.

Image Code A18

Catalogue No.: A18 Description: Syro-Hittite Fertility Idol. Late 2nd millennium BC. Fertility idol in the form of a standing goddess, the face with bird-like features including a pinched-beak nose, round eyes and surmounted by a crown, the body with square shoulders, hands to the breasts and wearing a broad collar necklace. (Re-joined at neck and trunk). Buff cay with remnant pigment. Syria. Size: 100 X 37mm.

Image Code A19

Catalogue No.: A19 Description: Syro-Hittite Fertility Idol. Late 2nd millennium BC. Fertility idol in the form of a standing goddess, the face with bird-like features including a pinched-beak nose, round eyes and surmounted by a crown, the cloaked body with short arms and wearing a broad collar necklace. (Re-joined at neck). Buff clay with remnant pigment. Syria. Size: 154 X 50mm.

Image Code A20

Catalogue No.: A20 Description: Babylonian Cuneiform Tablet. c 1850-1600 BC. Clay tablet with cuneiform text in horizontal registers on each side. Cuneiform or wedge-shaped writing, was first developed by the Sumerians some 5,000 years ago. The angular form of this script made it suitable for impressing into wet clay by means of a split reed. These tablets were extensively used in trade and commerce and contain information including economic texts, mathematics and inventories as well as legal and business transactions. Pale buff clay. Mesopotamia. Size: 87 X 49mm.

Image Code A21

Catalogue No.: A21 Description: Syro-Hittite Fertility Idol Fragment. Late 2nd millennium BC. Size: 49 X 40mm.

Image Code A22

Catalogue No.: A22 Description: Syro-Hittite Fertility Idol Fragment. Late 2nd millennium BC. Size: 81 X 55mm.

Image Code A23

Catalogue No.: A23 Description: Syro-Hittite Fertility Idol Fragment. Late 2nd millennium BC. Size: 33 X29mm.

Image Code A24

Catalogue No.: A24 Description: Celtic-Thracian Silver Neck Torc. 3rd-2nd Century BC. Rare and magnificent silver neck torc fashioned in the traditional Celtic manner from two bars of silver twisted together and then hammer-welded and adorned at each terminal with a breast, the torc able to be opened or closed by means of a hook and catch mechanism. This rare type of torc would have had a significant ritual or votive function in connection with fertility or childbirth. Throughout Celtic history, the torc served as a symbol of strength, power and royalty. It was also considered an important item of personal adornment and a status symbol by the aristocratic individuals and was also used as an early means of accumulating wealth in a measurable form. This piece was recovered from an area occupied by the Scordisi or Dardanian Celts who after their invasion of Greece in 280/279 BC, returned to the north of the Balkans and settled in broad valleys of the Danube and Great Morava, where they mixed with indigenous ethnic groups of Illyrian and Thracian origin. The Thracians were themselves fine metal workers from ancient times. There was a degree of borrowing and fusion of design and workmanship in this region where civilisation meets the steppes and trade flowed from all directions. Silver. The Balkans. Size: 197 X 210mm.

Image Code A25

Catalogue No.: A25 Description: European Bronze Age Sickle Implement Superb condition bronze implement with curved, bevelled and sharpened blade with a tang at one end, the handle / grip remodelled for display purposes. 1st millennium BC. Size: 240 X 20mm.

Image Code A41

Catalogue No.: A41 Description: Phoenician Rhyton Head. In the form of a cockerel or bird, from the Levant. Terracotta. c. 3rd century BC. Size: 83 x 71mm.

Image Code A42

Catalogue No.: A42 Description:   Babylonian Cuneiform Script Fragments. Fragments from a larger clay tablet displaying the characteristic wedge-shaped cuneiform script first developed by the Sumerians some 5000 years ago. The angular forms of this script made it suitable for impressing into wet clay by means of a split reed. These tablets were extensively used in trade and commerce and contain information including economic texts, mathematics and inventories as well as legal and business transactions. Pale buff clay, Mesopotamia. c. 1850-1600 BC. 6 pieces. Size: 283 x 335mm.

Image Code G04

Catalogue No.: G04 Description: Stone sculpture of unknown origin. Soft stone sculpture modelled in the form of a hippocamp or sea creature with a feline type face and the tail of a marine creature. Reportedly found in Libya, age unknown. Size: 145 X 115mm.

Image Code G102

Catalogue No.: G102 Description: Medieval Red Ware Cooking Pot. C 13-14th Century. Medieval England, as excavated from a site in Sussex. This pot possesses a broad flat rim pierced at two points for insertion of a wire handle. Fired clay. Size: 176X118mm.

Image Code G103

Catalogue No.: G103 Description: Early Indonesian Pottery Vessel. C 10th Century AD. Coarse textured drop-shaped squat vessel with rounded base and flared lip, decorated with incised parallel markings from the shoulder down and including the base, probably used as a cooking pot. Ex sea-salvage. Coarse fired clay. Size: 189X148mm.

Image Code G145

Catalogue No.: G145 Description: Neolithic Rock Engraving. Bubalus Period, 5th Millennium BC. Ancient rock engraving on a brown quartzite slab depicting a male deer or antelope, its head surmounted by a nimbus like disk or halo. Sefar area, Tassili-n-Ajer Plateau, Algeria. This is a unique, incomparable piece of prehistoric art from the birthplace of present day Man. Size: 380X270mm.

Image Code H1501

Catalogue No.: H1501 Description: Ethiopian Vellum and Wood Psalter extract in classical Ethiopic Ge’ez incorporating two large painted scenes in a fold-open wooden case. c. 18th century. Size: 402 x 208mm.

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