Alabaster Antiquities

A Very Rare and Early Carved Vessel in the Form of a Hedgehog Alabaster Near Eastern 3rd Millenium BC SIZE: 9.5cm high, 9.5cm wide, 15.5cm deep - 3¾ ins high, 3¾ ins wide, 6 ins ...

Compote measure approx -5.5diameter x 7.5 high Each piece of fruit and the nut measure roughly 1.5 inches each.Total of twelve pieces of stone fruit.

The cup hand-carved from white alabaster with caramel and white veining throughout the composition. The cup stands upon a tapering base, and widens to form the ribbed, cylindrical cup. Alabaster was a material prized by ancient sculptors...

A female head finely carved from evenly-coloured cream alabaster. The face features a strong chin, high rounded cheekbones, and large elliptical eyes deeply inset for inlays. The remains of the nose indicate that it was long, thin, and roughly triangular in form. A small, round mouth sits just below the nose. Deeply incised eyebrows follow the shape of the eyes, which are framed by unusual grooved canthi on either side, possibly to represent cosmetic eye paint. The supraorbital margins above the eyes are deeply carved, while the carving below the eyes is more subtle, smoothing the sockets into the rounded cheeks. The ears are formed from two arcs and a central sphere, and both lobes are pierced for earrings. The long hair frames the face below the ears, and is carved to create a rougher texture. There is a stock sticker on the back of the neck. A fragment of the right shoulder remains. This suggests that the head was part of a larger sculpture, possibly a full figure (though this seems unlikely due to its relatively large scale) or, more likely, a bust. This head is stylistically aligned with those found at Timna, the capital of the ancient Yemeni kingdom of Qataban, which existed from the 1st millennium BC until the late 1st or 2nd centuries AD. Timna served as an important hub of the Incense Route, the camel caravan that transported incense from Arabia and India to ports on the Mediterranean Sea. Roman author and philosopher Pliny the Elder (23/24-79 AD) described Timna as a busy city with around 65 temples. Excavations in 1950 and 1951 by Wendell Phillips...