Antiquities & Ancient Art: Including Property from the Brummer Collection

Sale 1273

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| Chicago

Dec 5 | 10:00 AM CST

Live

| Chicago

Lot 101

Lot 101

A Sumerian Clay Cuneiform Tablet

Status:

Closed

Estimate: $500 - $700

Estimate$500 – $700

Status

Closed

A Sumerian Clay Cuneiform Tablet

Third Dynasty of Ur, Circa 22nd-21st Century B.C.

Height 1 3/4 inches (4.4 cm).

Property from the Collection of Curator and Scholar Sidney M. Goldstein

Provenance:

Ray Winfield Smith (1897-1982), prior to the 1970s.

Derek Content and Carl Berkowitz, New York, 1970s.

Gifted to Dr. Sidney Goldstein from the above, late 1970s.

Dr. Sidney M. Goldstein is widely considered one of the foremost scholars in the study of ancient glass. After working as a curator at the Corning Museum of Glass from 1973 to 1983, he served as Associate Director and Curator of Ancient and Islamic Art at the St. Louis Art Museum until his retirement in 2009. Dr. Goldstein has authored and co-authored numerous publications including Glass: from Sasanian antecedents to European imitations (2005), and Pre-Roman and early Roman glass in the Corning Museum of Glass (1979).

This Sumerian tablet written in cuneiform reads: "157 eme [part of a plow]; 126 points ["tooth"] of a hoe; 236 points [unspecified objects] for flattening the field; 180 hoes; [transmitted] Via Akalla."

Inspected under UV light and 10x loupe. Intact with no obvious signs of repair. Possible coating to some areas of surface which fluoresce under UV light. Minor dents and scratches typical of age. Some deposits in crevices. Indentations and patterns on reverse potentially indicating fingerprints. Overall in fine and attractive condition. See additional images.

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Please contact the Auction Specialist for details.

Jacob Coley

Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Antiquities and Ancient Art

[email protected]312 280 1212

Mr. Coley joined the Antiquities department in 2021 after working as Managing Director in the Ancient Art department at Colnaghi, the world’s oldest commercial art gallery, where he helped to establish the Ancient Art department and launched Colnaghi New York in 2017. Prior to Colnaghi, Mr. Coley was in the Greek and Roman Art department at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mr. Coley holds a B.A. from the University of Miami and an M.A. in Art Market from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and he earned an art-appraisal certificate from New York University.

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Antiquities & Ancient Art: Including Property from the Brummer Collection

A Sumerian Clay Cuneiform Tablet

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