Stone, 10.99 grams, 42.74 mm. 5th-2nd century BC. A pierced elongated ceramic bar of lentoid section. On one face is the figure of an elk, head lowered and antlers thrust aggressively forward. On the reverse is a mountain lion advancing with its tail erect. The attack of lion and elk was a common motif in Scythian art, underscoring predation and thus of natural hierarchies. Reference: Vickers, M. Scythian and Thracian Antiquities, Oxford, 2002, plates 13 and 16. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection.

Copper-alloy, 22.51 grams, 165 mm. Circa 1,000 BC. The long shaft tapering to a fine point. The plain head with traces of an engraved ring below. Reference: Moorey, P. R. S. Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ahsmolean Museum. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection.

Copper-alloy, 35.98 grams, 180 mm. Circa 1,000 BC. The long shaft tapering to a fine point. The domed head flaring out from a series of engraved concentric rings with bands of chevrons between. Reference: Moorey, P. R. S. Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ahsmolean Museum. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection.

Copper-alloy, 18.73 grams, 165 mm. Circa 1,000 BC. The long shaft tapering to a fine point. The conical head flaring out from a series of engraved concentric rings. Reference: Moorey, P. R. S. Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ahsmolean Museum. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection.

Copper-alloy, 18.79 grams, 170 mm. Circa 1,000 BC. The long shaft tapering to a fine point. The conical head flaring out from a series of engraved concentric rings. Reference: Moorey, P. R. S. Catalogue of the Ancient Persian Bronzes in the Ahsmolean Museum. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection.

Copper-alloy, 10.04 grams, 101.75 mm. Circa 14th-10th century BC. Luristan is famed for its fine bronzework. The pin is a long tapering spike, with a faceted, ribbed section at the top surmounted by a rectangular plinth on which stands the cast figure of a monkey with upturned face and trilobed erect tail. Reference: Porada, E. The Art of Ancient Iran, Pre-Islamic Cultures, New York, 1962. Good very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection.

Lapis lazuli, 3.96 grams, 23.25 mm. Circa 3rd millennium BC. A deep blue Lapis Lazuli figurine of a bull with one prominently displayed horn, in a reclining posture and with a pierced lobe at the shoulder for suspension. The moulding is very deep but the reverse of the figure is flat so that it may lie comfortably on the wearer's body. Sumerian culture is today best known through the sacred text The Epic of Gilgamesh, in its Babylonian version, but the Sumerians were among the first adopters of agriculture as a way of life. They were powerful from circa 5000 BC to 2600 BC, when their power began to decline due to population movement. Sumerian religion was originally animistic, but became increasingly anthropocentric as Sumer made contact with other peoples of the ancient Near East such as the Akkadians. The bull appears to have had associations with royalty, and a harp with bull-head decoration was found in the tomb of Paubi, from circa 2600 BC. Reference: for ancient Near Eastern bull cults, see Rice, M. Power of the Bull, London, 1997. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old English collection formed in the 1930's.

Carnelian, 16.26 grams, 43 cm, 17 inches. Indus Valley Culture; Bronze Age, circa 2600 - 1600 BC. A re-strung carnelian necklace, which has 56 ovoid shaped ancient carnelian beads, etched with geometric designs. The technique of painting the surface of a finished carnelian bead with natron [calcium carbonate] and then baking the mineral on appears to have been invented around 2500 BC by Indus Valley craftesman, possibly to imitate banded agates. This technique was also adopted by the Mesopotamians and later by the Persians. Etched beads may well have been traded from the Indus Valley to Sumer as early as 2500 BC. Reference: Thames & Hudson, The History of Beads from 30,000 BC to the Present, page 181-2; No. 600, a-c. Extremely fine condition and wearable. Provenance: from an old English collection; found Indus Valley, Pakistan.

Copper-alloy, 42.48 grams, 57.24 mm. Circa 4th century BC. Scythian art is one of the first and most important animal-based art styles of the Old World. It influenced the later art of central, western and northern Europe in ways which are still poorly understood. One of the central motifs of this art was of a horse with its neck and back arched so that its tail was close to its mouth, as if falling over while galloping. Evolved forms include the horse's head, which is in evidence here. The mount/pendant features a horse-head with extended tongue, looping on a long carinated neck with lobed extensions from a bulb with lateral lobes; the bulb surmounts a sub-circular ring with a circular mount on the reverse and develops into a lozengiform facetted lobe with spherical terminal. The latter fitting has a phallic quality. There are traces of red pigmentation on the surface. Reference: Braund, D. Scythians and Greeks: Cultural Interaction in Scythia, Athens and the Early Roman Empire - Sixth Century BC to First Century AD, Exeter, 2005. Very fine condition.

Copper-alloy, 14.58 grams, 35.01 mm. 4th century BC to 3rd century AD. A beautifully modelled openwork mount in the form of two opposed beasts, touching at the muzzle, lower jaw, forepaw, hindleg and haunch. The beasts are exceuted in the characteristic Scythian style with tightly curled snouts, legs and tails. On the reverse is the loop used to secure leather or fabric straps, possibly part of a horse-harness; the Scythians were renowned horsemen and dominated eastern Europe and southern Asia for many centuries. Scythian art influenced the culture of classical Greece, which in turn inspired later Roman art. Reference: for Scythian art see Vickers, M. Scythian and Thracian Antiquities in Oxford (Ashmolean Handbooks), Oxford, 2003 and Braund, D. Scythians and Amazons, London, 2009. Very fine condition.

Copper alloy, 54.84 grams; 62.04 mm. Circa 1900-1300 BC. A thick square sectioned band with two expanded terminals each detailed with raised section on the outer edge. A good solid example in very fine condition. Ex old English collection.

Terracotta, 450 grams, 155.87 mm. Circa 2000 B.C. Figurine from Bronze Age Afghanistan. Hollow figurine with a bird like head, pinched beak, applied eyes and thin elongated ears. She wears a pierced choker and has both hands together on chest, as if praying. This piece, which was manufactured from a single piece of long thin pottery coiled to form the hollow body, was probably mounted on a ceremonial staff or an alter where rituals would have been undertaken for fertility of both land and body. Extremely Fine 'as found' condition.