Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I

Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art Part I

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 13. A South Arabian Alabaster Head of a Man, Qataban, 3rd Century B.C./1st Century A.D..

Property from the Collection of the late Antonin and Christiane Besse

A South Arabian Alabaster Head of a Man, Qataban, 3rd Century B.C./1st Century A.D.

VAT reduced rate

Auction Closed

December 7, 04:32 PM GMT

Estimate

18,000 - 22,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

Property from the Collection of the late Antonin and Christiane Besse

A South Arabian Alabaster Head of a Man, Qataban

3rd Century B.C./1st Century A.D.


with prominent chin, full lips, thin incised moustache, eyes recessed for inlay and outlined in bronze, grooved eyebrows, and naturalistically rendered ears.

Height 18 cm.


Please note that the eye rims are made or dark blue glass, not bronze.

Antonin Besse (1927-2016) and Christiane Besse (1928-2021), Paris, acquired in Yemen in the 1960s

by descent to the present owner


Published

Yémen, Au pays de la reine de Saba (catalogue of the exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, Oct. 25th, 1997, to Feb. 28th, 1998), Paris, 1997, p. 99

Sabina Antonini, La statuaria sudarabica in pietra (Repertorio iconographico sudarabico, I), Paris and Rome, 2001, p. 91, C51, pl. 44

For a related example see Sotheby's, New York, December 10th, 1999, no. 14.