Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I

Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 18. A South Arabian Alabaster Head of a Woman, Qataban, 3rd Century B.C./1st Century A.D..

Property from the Collection of the late Antonin and Christiane Besse

A South Arabian Alabaster Head of a Woman, Qataban, 3rd Century B.C./1st Century A.D.

VAT reduced rate

Auction Closed

December 7, 04:32 PM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 8,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Collection of the late Antonin and Christiane Besse

A South Arabian Alabaster Head of a Woman, Qataban

3rd Century B.C./1st Century A.D.


with broad neck, large eyes recessed for calcite inlays (the pupils once inlaid in a darker material), grooved eyebrows, and long coiffure cross-hatched on top, a deep vertical pointed-oval indentation before each ear.

Height 17 cm.


Antonin Besse (1927-2016) and Christiane Besse (1928-2021), Aden and Paris, acquired in Yemen in the 1960s
by descent to the present owner

For similar indentations on the temples of a seated female figure from Hayd ibn 'Aqil and now in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C., see R. L. Cleveland, An Ancient South Arabian Necropolis. Objects from the Second Campaign (1951) in the Timna' Cemetery, 1965, p. 13, pls. 28-29 (S. Antonini, "Segni faciali su alcune statue femminili sudarabiche," Annali dell' Istituto Universitario Orientali di Napoli, vol. 56, 1996, p. 459, pl. 2d, Yémen. Au pays de la reine de Saba, 1997, p. 172, and https://asia.si.edu/object/S2013.2.152/). Also see Replica Shoes 's, London, November 27th, 1967, no. 19, and May 4th, 1970, no. 34, as well Cleveland, op. cit., pl. 4.

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