15th Century and Earlier Abstract Sculptures

Ancient pre-Columbian, Nayarit, Mexican, circa 100 BCE to 250 CE, hand-built ceramic pottery redware sculpture of a seated male figure with arms crossed and wearing a headdress and m...

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...

Cypriot Plank Idol Early Bronze Age III - Middle Bronze Age I, c. 2100 - 1850 BC. Low fired burnished earthenware pottery with lime-filled incisions A Cypriot plank idol, an iconic form of human representation from Bronze Age Cyprus...

Bactrian alabaster chalice, circa 3000-2000 BC. It has an elegant tapering formed base with a undeep rimmed cup. The alabaster is strikingly vained. ...

Saint Nazaire Sword, Late Bronze Age, circa 800-900 B.C. An exceptionally well preserved Bronze Age sword, with elegant, finely incised decorations,...

Amazing Boat Shape Green Onyx With Clock Weight: 526.38 gram Dim: 13.8 x 15.1 x 4.7 Cm Shape : Boat Origin: Pakistan Green onyx is a mesmerizing gemstone that captivates ...

We are delighted to offer this stunning pair of fully polished limestone circa 395-million-year-old Fossilized Orthoceras statues Please note the delivery fee listed is just a gui...

Extra large, free-standing. Polished Quartz crystal with Hematite. From Brazil. Overall tones are brown, sand, honey, deep yellow, & Beige. 158 LBS (Requires Special Delivery & ...

Ancient Roman marble sculpture. Includes custom iron stand. This is the real thing!

A magnificent example of a gogotte formation composed of thick swirls and folds of sparkling sandstone. Discovered in the Oligocene sand dunes of Fon...

Translucent green and brown jade Bi from the early Bronze age. (2200 - 1900 B.C). The organic shapes created by the blending of these two main colors evo...

We are delighted to offer this stunning pair of fully polished limestone circa 395-million-year-old Fossilized Orthoceras statues Orthoceras ("straight horn") is a genus of extinc...

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...

Freestanding vibrant red & yellow natural mookaite mineral from Australia   Since 1986 Dale Rogers has been sourcing the grandest fossils, crysta...

Native carved blackened stone artifact, weighs 2 lbs 12 oz. Age is unknown, estate purchase.

This piece of peerless beauty is a perfect example with proportions and appear that make any interior unique. The predominant color is a gradation of black with white veins. The natural wood base was specially made to hold the mineral. Not only does it ensure stability and protection, it adds an extra...

Large rare cubed yellow fluorite formation from China mounted on a mirrored steel base. Since 1986 Dale Rogers has been sourcing the grandest fossils, crystals and minerals from a...

Bactrian marble column idol, circa 3000-2000 Bc. It has a elegant tapering form with a undeep groove running on the top and bottom. The marble is a breccia type with striking vains i...

Southern Costa Rica/Western Panama, circa 800 to 1500 AD. Gold Veraguas-Chiriqui-Diquis twin figure pendant cast by the lost-wax (cire perdu) grasping an imaginary club with their claws, with bat ears and pop out eyes and each figure ending in the shape of a jaguar tooth, symbolizing the power of the jaguar and the ability to see in the dark; The casting process did not go entirely smoothly. Part of his mold, on the side of the proper right figure (viewer's left side), did not fill with metal. The Pre-Columbian goldsmith carried out a superb repair, probably making a wax patch and pouring gate on the gold pendant, then enclosing it in a new mold and pouring in more metal. The patch is hardly visible on the outside. A modern goldsmith, who cannot do it as well, would use his gas torch to solder on a patch. The gold is of such high grade or karat, possibly unalloyed native gold...

Southern Costa Rica or Western Panama, circa 800 to 1500 AD. A very fine example of the goldwork of the Veraguas-Chiriqui-Diquis region. A pendant in Carbonera style of a supernatural being, a composite monster with human torso and feline (probably jaguar) head. The figure is set in a frame decorated with little animal heads, one at each corner. The hands have also turned into animal heads. In place of genitalia is a stylized serpent head suspended by a twisted cord that was supposed to continue across the frame. A minor casting accident prevented it form being attached to the frame. A modern goldsmith would solder in two short lengths of twisted wire, but the ancient goldsmith did not have the equipment to make such repair. A double thread ending in spirals goes across the frame behind the neck of the figure, helping to fill up the frame and avoiding a large empty space. The word "thread" reminds us that the twisted and straight cords were, in the original wax model of the pendant really extruded wax threads, turned into metal by the lost wax (cire perdue) process. The braid pattern on the frame is illusory, just two twisted threads of extruded wax laid side by side. The goldsmith made the toes out of extruded wax thread too, very decorative as well. The piece comes with a certificate of authenticity by Mr. Robert Sonin, 5 May 2006. ref. photo roll 3301. A world renowned expert on Pre-Columbian Artifacts...

A South Coast wood ceremonial leeboard, Ica Valley region, Late Intermediate Horizon, ca. A.D. 1100-1400. This large 'remo' made from the hard algarrobo wood, features twelve figure...

9th century silver processional priest's hats, Chimu culture, Peru. These silver hats were originally covered with fabric, as can be seen in the remaining surface pattern. The hol...

A rare pair of French cast iron fence post fragments dating back to the 1300’s. A long sprouting flower is wrapped around the flat column post, recently set in concrete bases. Sold a...