Ancient Sabaean Stone Figure Woman & Child
South Arabia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, probably Sabaean, ca. later 1st millennium BCE. A handsome carved and smoothed limestone figure of a standing woman holding a prone small child outstretched in front of her. She is wearing a floor-length dress with a large incised necklace that consists of several bands of incised radiating lines and what look like small triangular pendants hanging from it at mid-chest. She also wears a low polos decorated with incised circles with dots at their center, a motif believed throughout the ancient Mediterranean and neighboring regions to represent a ward against the evil eye. Her hair flares outward to her shoulders. Her face is simple, with incised eyes that mirror the motifs on her cap, a large nose, and her mouth set in a smile. She stands on an integrated platform with her bare feet visible. She holds her hands out, her arms bent at the elbows, her palms up, with the child swaddled in them. Size: 3.75" W x 10.05" H (9.5 cm x 25.5 cm); 10.9" H (27.7 cm) on included custom stand.
Who might this woman be? Who is the child she is holding? Women in South Arabia during this time period seem to have had a great deal of power in society - for example, of eighteen known magnificent elite tombs from Qaryat al-Faw, a capital city in the region, twelve belonged to women. As a result, women were frequently depicted in ancient South Arabian stone carving - the British Museum alone holds many limestone and calcite carvings of standing and sitting women, all with their arms outstretched. Their meaning remains a mystery.
cf. a similar statuette in the National Museum, Aden, inv. NAM 616.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-William Froelich collection, New York, USA, collected in the 1970s
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
#146588
Condition Report: Repaired at waist and in two places on the back/one side of the head. Nose has also been repaired. Small losses from peripheries and weathering on surface. Overall in good condition with clear form and some nice details preserved.
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South Arabia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, probably Sabaean, ca. later 1st millennium BCE. A handsome carved and smoothed limestone figure of a standing woman holding a prone small child outstretched in front of her. She is wearing a floor-length dress with a large incised necklace that consists of several bands of incised radiating lines and what look like small triangular pendants hanging from it at mid-chest. She also wears a low polos decorated with incised circles with dots at their center, a motif believed throughout the ancient Mediterranean and neighboring regions to represent a ward against the evil eye. Her hair flares outward to her shoulders. Her face is simple, with incised eyes that mirror the motifs on her cap, a large nose, and her mouth set in a smile. She stands on an integrated platform with her bare feet visible. She holds her hands out, her arms bent at the elbows, her palms up, with the child swaddled in them. Size: 3.75" W x 10.05" H (9.5 cm x 25.5 cm); 10.9" H (27.7 cm) on included custom stand.
Who might this woman be? Who is the child she is holding? Women in South Arabia during this time period seem to have had a great deal of power in society - for example, of eighteen known magnificent elite tombs from Qaryat al-Faw, a capital city in the region, twelve belonged to women. As a result, women were frequently depicted in ancient South Arabian stone carving - the British Museum alone holds many limestone and calcite carvings of standing and sitting women, all with their arms outstretched. Their meaning remains a mystery.
cf. a similar statuette in the National Museum, Aden, inv. NAM 616.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-William Froelich collection, New York, USA, collected in the 1970s
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
#146588
Condition Report: Repaired at waist and in two places on the back/one side of the head. Nose has also been repaired. Small losses from peripheries and weathering on surface. Overall in good condition with clear form and some nice details preserved.
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Time, Location
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