Western Asiatic Stamp Seal and Artefact Collection

4th-1st millennium BC
A group of ten amulets including one accompanied by a typed and signed note by the late W.G. Lambert, Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham 1970-1993, which states: (U-325) 'Stamp Seal/Amulet of Black/Green Stone, 16 x 26 x 10mm. This bears the shape of the creature depicted with flat face and back in deep relief. The creature appears to be an animal with short fat body and very small head, with tail marked and creases in the body. It is pierced vertically through the centre of the body. This comes from Sumer or south-west Iran and dates to c. 3000 B.C. It is a rare type, and in generally good condition. The design is achieved with dots and cuts, but remains obscure.'; the rest comprising: two bull heads, both with protruding muzzle, drilled lateral eyes and pointed ears, one black stone, the other green stone with incised crossed to forehead and neck; one terracotta anthropomorphic head with pointed nose, circular deep set eyes and bands to the side of the head to represent hair, absent below the nose; one round-section stone with incised zoomorphic face to one end with ring and dot eyes, nostrils, mouth, brow and linear collar; a fish with fanned tail and incised scales; a crouching leopard with speckled body; a plano-convex plaque of elliptical shape with one flat end, resembling the form of an archer's ring, discoid perforation to the flat end; a green stone seated bull with rounded rump and defined head, pierced vertically; a piriform tabular seal with two stamp surfaces, the lower design with three piriform shapes above three wavy lines, the upper design with geometric lines, three lines to the body, pierced transversely. 267 grams total, 24-91mm (1-3 1/2"). Fine condition. [10]
Provenance
The Signo collection, the property of a West London businessman, formed in the late 1980s-early 1990s; collection numbers T-309, V-325, W-839, X-914, Y-163, Y-445, Y-633, Z-19, and two others, academically researched and catalogued by the late Professor Lambert in the early 1990s.
Footnotes
Dr. Bonewitz notes: 'The items are made from serpentine (2), composition (1), limestone (6), marble (1).'