Rare Bactrian Marble Scepter Idol

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Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Feb 18, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-02-18 10:00:00 2021-02-18 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-asian-ethnographic-6373
Museum-worthy examples of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Near Eastern, Far East / Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal, Oceanic, Native American, Spanish Colonial, Russian, Fossils, Ancient Jewelry, Fine Art, so much more! Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Ancient Central Asia, Bactria, ca. late 3rd to early 2nd millennium BCE. A fine and exceptionally rare idol depicting an abstract, scepter-style body carved from marble of translucent white and pale-yellow hues. The form exhibits a gently tapered columnar body with a discoid butt end, a stocky body similar to a baseball bat, and a dramatically slanted head that terminates in an ovoid, acutely angled top. Engraved into the slanted face is a narrow vertical channel that was perhaps meant to create raised lines when the scepter was dragged face down in the earth and sand. Bactrian idols like this example are known in a variety of forms, however the lack of written records hinders the explication of their ambiguous contextualization. Size: 27.875" L x 2.125" W (70.8 cm x 5.4 cm)
  
  Ancient idols like this one, that reduce natural forms to a simple collection of shapes and lines, are considered some of our oldest abstract art. They fascinate us today in part because they hint at a belief system and cosmology that we can no longer access or understand. Instead, we guess at the meaning - are they fertility charms? Representations of old gods? Were they made to be carried as apotropaic charms, or simply to be placed in tombs? Whatever the case, their enigmatic forms and abstract stylization is certainly open to interpretation.
  
  An example of a larger size hammered for EUR 8,365 ($10,051.63) at Christie's, Kasteel van's-Gravenwezel, Antwerp "Axel Vervoordt, Antwerp" auction (sale 6850, May 10-12, 2004, lot 180)
  
  Provenance: private Los Angeles, California, USA collection, purchased between the 1980s to 2000s
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #161043

  Condition

  Nicks to tip of head, body, and pommel end, with thick earthen encrustations across most surfaces, and light abrasions, otherwise intact and excellent. Smooth earthen deposits throughout and lustrous areas of exposed marble in scattered areas.
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