A South Arabian Alabaster Aniconic Stele, Qataban, circa 2nd Century B.C.

Auction Closed

December 3, 04:39 PM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 8,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

of slightly flaring form with concave top, the integral(?) base finely engraved in front with a single line of South Arabic inscription transliterating as Nbṭʿm ḏ-S¹ḥl ("Nabaṭʿamm, who descended from Saḥl").

Height 31 cm.

probably from Hayd ibn 'Aqil, the necropolis of ancient Timna' in Yemen

Alastair J. Anderson, (1927-2016), Scotland, acquired while living in Aden in 1957-1960 and brought back to Britain in the late 1960s

Scottish private collection, by descent from the above

acquired by the present owner at auction in Scotland

For a related example with rounded top from the Besse Collection see Sotheby's, London, December 7th, 2021, no. 15. Also see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1985-0223-61. The man's name Nabaṭʿamm is attested sixteen times in Qatabanic inscriptions, while the lineage name Saḥl only appears in two other instances (A.W.F. Jamme, "The South Arabian collection of the University Museum, Cambridge, England. Documentation sud-arabe, IV", Rivista degli Studi Orientali, vol. 40, pp. 45-46, no. 1067, pl. II/5, and Ṣanʿāʾ, Military Museum, MṢM 3646).