Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Ancient Japanese Kofun Period Haniwa Terracotta Head

More From This SellerView All
  • Ancient Greek Corinthian Helmet
    Located in London, GB
    Corinthian helmet with Bull Horns and Lotus Flower Decoration. Archaic Period, c.550-500 BC. Cast, hammered and incised bronze. An exceptionally well preserved example of one of the most iconic ancient Greek...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier European Classical Greek Mounted Objects

    Materials

    Bronze

    Ancient Greek Corinthian Helmet
    $510,000
    Free Shipping
  • Ancient South Arabian Alabaster Inscription
    Located in London, GB
    South Arabian Alabaster Inscription Calcite Alabaster circa 1st century A.D. ‘’Consequently, neither white marble of Paros nor any other stone which men admire can be compared with the precious stones of Arabia, since their whiteness is most brilliant, their weight the heaviest, and their smoothness leaves no room for other stones to surpass them.’’ - Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Book II, 52.9 This inscription, finely worked on an alabaster tablet, is a remarkably well preserved example of Ancient South Arabian script, with its distinct bold, angular forms, written in the Qatabanic dialect - that is, the dialect spoken by the people of the kingdom of Qataban, which ruled much of modern day Yemen from the 7th Century B.C. to the 2nd Century A.D. The text, which reads: ‘[... ...]sa?d and Ma?add?i- / (of the lineage) of Hawfa- / She entrusted Anb- / against any malfeasance (which would remove it) from its place’ - indicates that it likely served to commemorate a temple offering. The quality of the script, incised so neatly into the surface of the alabaster, tells us that this piece was commissioned by somebody of considerable wealth and prestige, employing a scribe of equally considerable expertise. South Arabia was known throughout the ancient world for its incredible wealth - so much so that the Romans termed the region ‘Arabia Felix’ - literally, ‘Happy, or Fortunate, Arabia.’ That wealth was built largely on the trade of spices and incense, in which the Kingdom of Qataban played a major part. According to Pliny the Elder, this was the sole country through which frankincense could be exported, first being collected in the city of Shabwa, on the South Arabian coast, and from there travelling by camel up to Gaza, to be shipped all across the Mediterranean - not only that, but all growers of myrrh across Arabia were required to give a quarter of their yield to the king of the Qatabanians. As such, the kingdom became exceedingly rich and powerful, and Pliny goes on to tell us that ‘The nations of the Larendani and the Catabani, and the Gebanitæ [...] occupy a great number of towns, the largest of which are Nagia, and Thomna (the capital of Qataban) with sixty-five temples, a number which fully bespeaks its size.’ Because of the nature of its exports, frankincense in particular - the ‘sweat of of the gods’ according to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and perhaps most famous as one of the three gifts brought to the newborn Christ - being closely associated with the divine, South Arabia’s reputation in antiquity was as a mysterious, almost sacred, and - crucially - extraordinarily wealthy region, at the very edge of the known world; in the words of Herodotus: ‘’Enough of marvels, and yet the land of Arabia gives off a scent as sweet as if divine.’’ This inscription invokes the protection of god Anbay, the judge-oracle of the chief god ‘Amm, who he served as an attendant. Much of what we know of the religious life of the ancient South Arabians comes to us from early Islamic texts, describing what is known in Islamic scholarship as ‘Jahiliyyah’ - the age before the advent of Islam in Arabia. What comes across in much of these texts is that these religious practices placed a great deal of emphasis on sacred stones, perhaps linked to the brilliance of the alabaster which is local to the region, and which a great many of the cult-objects produced in this time are made from. Hisham ibn-Al-Kalbi’s Book of Idols records: ‘’The Arabs were passionately fond of worshipping idols [...] Whenever a traveller stopped at a place or station in order to rest or spend the night, he would select for himself four stones, pick out the finest among them and adopt it as his god, and use the remaining three as supports for his cooking-pot.’’ This inscription was once in the collection of the intrepid British-Australian travel...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Yemeni Abstract Sculptures

    Materials

    Alabaster

  • Ancient South Arabian Alabaster Statue
    Located in London, GB
    South Arabian Calcite female figure 3rd Century BC to 1st century A.D. Calcite Alabaster height: 30.5 cm A magnificent alabaster female figure, a f...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Yemeni Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Alabaster

  • Ancient Egyptian Monumental Temple Sphinxes
    Located in London, GB
    A pair of monumental limestone sphinxes of Pharaoh Nectanebo I, from the processional avenue of the Serapeum of Memphis, 30th Dynasty, circa 379 - 360 BC. The sphinxes of the Serapeum have captivated travellers since Roman times. However, despite their significance, they are conspicuously absent from the collections of most major museums. Indeed, their existence in private hands is so improbable, and their imitations so numerous, that the present sphinxes were assumed to be modern copies throughout their recent ownership history. Finally recognised and conserved after an extraordinary chance discovery at a garden furniture sale...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Egyptian Egyptian Figurative Sculptures

    Materials

    Limestone

  • Ancient Silver Celtic Tetradrachm Coin
    Located in London, GB
    Celtic ‘Dachreiter’ Tetradrachm Minted in Eastern Europe, circa 1st-2nd Century B.C. Silver A magnificent Celtic tetradrachm of the Dachreiter (“roof-rider”) type, minted by a C...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Mounted Objects

    Materials

    Silver

  • Egyptian Head of a Man
    Located in London, GB
    Egyptian head of a man, carved granite. 18th Dynasty, circa 1550-1292 B.C. Carved in beautiful dark granite, this head depicts an elite individual, perha...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Egyptian Egyptian Busts

    Materials

    Granite

    Egyptian Head of a Man
    $70,000
    Free Shipping
You May Also Like
  • Japanese Haniwa Terracotta Head of a Warrior
    Located in Hudson, NY
    Japanese Haniwa terracotta head of a warrior, Haniwa figures are Japanese terracotta funerary figures that accompanied the dead buried in early Japan, ...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Japanese Antiquities

    Materials

    Terracotta

  • Ancient Japanese Haniwa Terracotta Figure Kofun C 6th century Asian Art Antiques
    Located in London, GB
    A rare Haniwa figural head  Kofun period (3rd-7th century), circa 500-600. The hand-built yellow earthenware hollow figure of typical form, the face...
    Category

    Antique Late 18th Century Japanese Tribal Art

    Materials

    Pottery

  • Kamakura Period Japanese Shinzu Sculpture
    Located in Hudson, NY
    Kamakura Period Japanese Shinzu sculpture. Shinzo is a representational figure of a god or spirit in the Shinto religion. This sculpture was carved fro...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Japanese Antiquities

    Materials

    Wood

  • Three Ancient Terracotta Sculptures, China Ming Period
    Located in Roma, IT
    This Chinese terracotta group of figures is made up of three figures of Chinese dignitaries in glazed green and ocher terracotta on hexagonal bases and removable heads. From the d...
    Category

    Antique 16th Century Chinese Sculptures and Carvings

    Materials

    Terracotta

  • Sculpted Terracotta Gandhara Head
    Located in Atlanta, GA
    A lifesize terracotta head in Gandhara style. Based on the style, it is likely from Kushan period Northern India, circa 4th-6th century. The expressive facial composition with styliz...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Indian Other Antiquities

    Materials

    Terracotta, Wood

  • Ancient Bactrian Marble Idol Staff Sceptor
    Located in Vosselaar, BE
    A large Bactrian marble staff circa late 3rd-2nd millennium BCE. The Bactrian culture was discovered by Soviet archeologists in the 1970s in Afghanistan. Also called the Oxus culture...
    Category

    Antique 15th Century and Earlier Afghan Antiquities

    Materials

    Marble

Recently Viewed

View All