Lot 52A
Near East / Turkey, Anatolia, Neolithic / Chalcolithic, ca. 5500 to 3000 BCE. A group of four ceramic idols, each with a distinctive beak-like nose and long, slit-like eyes. All have a long, cylindrical form, three terminating before any hint of body, and the fourth, the largest, with the suggestion of shoulders below its long neck. Ancient idols like these one, that reduce the human figure 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? Their mute figures raise more questions than they answer. Size of largest: 1.15" W x 2.35" H (2.9 cm x 6 cm); 3.2" H (8.1 cm) on included custom stand.
Provenance: private Secaucus, New Jersey, USA collection, acquired over twenty years ago
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#130587
- Condition: All are fragmentary, with losses below the neck/shoulders. Wear on surfaces commensurate with age.
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