A MESOPOTAMIAN TERRACOTTA HEAD OF A MAN - THIRD DYNASTY OF UR ISIN-LARSA OLD BABYLONIAN PERIOD, CIRCA 2000-1800 B.C.

Likely a ruler, votary or a man of importance, depicted with his head and face cleanly shaven, the oval face with thick brows merging at the bridge of the straight, triangular nose, the bulging eyes with heavy contoured lids, the thin lips curved upward in a smile, the philtrum indicated, the prominent chin dimpled, the ears naturalistically modelled, preserving pigment throughout, including red for the skin tones, black for the brows, lids and pupils. 8¾ in. (22.2 cm.) high. Estimate: $600,000 - $800,000

Provenance: with Elie Borowski, Basel, 1973.
with Ben Heller, New York.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 24 November 1987, lot 58.

Exhibited: Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, 1979.
Minneapolis, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 16 January 1984 - 23 April 1985.
Shiga, Japan, Miho Museum, The Archaic Smile - From the Mediterranean to East Asia and Japan, 12 July - 19 August 2007.

Lot Notes: This finely-sculpted head relates to a series of terracotta sculptures preserved as heads or busts. The dating of these pieces has been debated, but seems to be focused on the dynasties in Mesopotamia in the late 3rd to early 2nd millennium B.C. See, for example, a female head in the Schimmel Collection (no. 112 in Muscarella, ed., Ancient Art, The Norbert Schimmel Collection), female head from the collection of Elie Borowski, now in the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem (no. 68 in Muscarella, ed., Ladders to Heaven, Art Treasures from the Land of the Bible), and a female bust in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (pp. 86-87 in Brovarski, A Table of Offerings), which is thought to possibly be from a sanctuary to the healing goddess Gula at Isin.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. N198c25 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

Christie's. ANTIQUITIES.  4 June 2008