Skip to main content
Bonhams
Search

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

An Anatolian marble idol
A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

A small Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone inscribed for King Sin-Kashid of Uruk
A Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Hittite bronze helmet with pelta-shaped cheek-pieces
A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
A Roman marble torso of a youth wearing a tunic
A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg
A Greek green glazed faience hedgehog aryballos
A Greek bronze hydria with siren handle-plate
A Greek terracotta figure of a woman
A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder
An Etruscan terracotta antefix of a satyr
An Etruscan bronze woman possibly dancing
An Etruscan bronze candelabrum
An Etruscan terracotta votive life-size left leg
An Attic black-figure Little Master band-cup with grazing deer and panther
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo
An Attic red-figure trefoil lipped oinochoe
An Attic black-figure lekythos
A European bronze dirk blade
Previous Lot
Next Lot
Lot 156

A Neo-Babylonian stone trial piece with five lines of cuneiform

Antiquities
28 November 2019, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £6,312.50 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Antiquities specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A Neo-Babylonian stone trial piece with five lines of cuneiform
Circa 606-539 B.C.
Of smooth polished veined stone, the top with a short line of text partially preserved, the front with five lines of cuneiform reading: 'Ten true shekels/property of Marduk-shar-ilani/copy of a weight/of Nabu-kudurri-usur (Nebuchadnezzar)/King of Babylon', 5.8cm high; 7.5cm long

Footnotes

Provenance:
Hans (1900-1967) and Marie-Louis (1912-1997) Erlenmeyer collection, Basel.
Ancient Near Eastern Texts from the Erlenmeyer Collection; Christie's, London, 13 December 1988, lot 132.
Private collection, acquired at the above sale and housed in the UK.

This stone appears to be a trial piece, used for practice by an apprentice scribe, rather than a weight in itself; the actual weight of the stone fragment is 313.6g, and this does not correspond to ten shekels, mentioned in the text.

An actual weight stone of Marduk-shar-ilani is in the British Museum, London, BM 1105/BM 91005. This 1 mina weight is inscribed, reading 'One true mina, property of Marduk-shar-ilani/Copy of the weight which Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon, established following the weight(-standard) of Shulgi, an earlier king'.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

An Anatolian marble idol
A Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone with dedication inscription of King Lipit-Ishtar of Isin
A small Mesopotamian clay cuneiform foundation cone inscribed for King Sin-Kashid of Uruk
A Neo-Assyrian or Neo-Hittite bronze helmet with pelta-shaped cheek-pieces
A Babylonian agate "eye-stone" bead, inscribed for Nebuchadnezzar II
A large Etruscan Impasto Ware pottery olla
A Roman marble torso of a youth wearing a tunic
A Roman marble head of a satyr
An Attic pottery tankard with geometric decoration
A Greek bronze horse
A Greek pottery alabastron in the form of a greaved leg
A Greek green glazed faience hedgehog aryballos
A Greek bronze hydria with siren handle-plate
A Greek terracotta figure of a woman
A Greek terracotta female figure with a bird perched on her shoulder
An Etruscan terracotta antefix of a satyr
An Etruscan bronze woman possibly dancing
An Etruscan bronze candelabrum
An Etruscan terracotta votive life-size left leg
An Attic black-figure Little Master band-cup with grazing deer and panther
An Attic black-figure eye-cup with gorgoneion tondo
An Attic red-figure trefoil lipped oinochoe
An Attic black-figure lekythos
A European bronze dirk blade