A Sumerian Clay Cuneiform Tablet

Old Babylonian Period, Circa 1800-1600 B.C.

Height 2 3/4 inches (6.99 cm).

Provenance:

Dikran G. Kelekian (1867-1951), New York. [by repute]

Private Collection, New York, acquired in the 2000s.

Artemis Gallery, Louisville, Fine Antiquities, Ethnographic & Fine Art, 13 August 2020, Lot 45A.

This Old Babylonian letter, written in Akkadian, consists of 22 lines and is addressed from Munawirrum to Etel-pi-Nabium and the cooks. It begins with the phrase "When you see this tablet..." while the remainder is mostly legible, though some key signs remain unclear. The letter mentions soldiers, but the full context and subject of the message remain undeciphered; the two personal names are relatively common.

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Jacob Coley

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[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.

Antiquities and Ancient Art

A Sumerian Clay Cuneiform Tablet

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