£280 - £400
CUNEIFORM CLAY TABLET FROM LAGASH(?) IN IRAQ LISTING PAYMENTS MADE IN ANIMALS; Small and complete 2048 BC brief Sumerian baked clay tablet (c.28x38 mm; discoloured, presumably by fire) of the Ur III Period probably also from the ancient Iraq city of Lagash (aka Shirpurla, located NW of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about 22 km east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah) being an administrative document. With full transcription and translation (by the 1980s expert Dr Irving Finkel) of the 10 lines of legible Sumerian text (back and front); "1 fattened lamb for turning the water, 1 female sheep lying with a fattened sheep, 8 sucking lambs. Ur-Bau, received from Nalu, disbursed month of the Festival of Ninazu, the year after Kimash was destroyed " [i.e. 2048 BC]. Rare example of an authenticated and very early clay tablet. [Provenance; purchased by the vendor in the 16 July 1985 Christies Antiquities sale (one of 3 in lot 285) and listed as the "Property of a Lady" - believed to have been the widow of Sir Kenneth Clark, 1903-83, the famous broadcaster and art historian]. Cross Reference: IRAQ, EARLY LETTERS
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