AN AMLASH TERRACOTTA STEATOPHYGOUS FIGURE, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENIUM B.C. AN AMLASH TERRACOTTA STEATOPHYGOUS FIGURE, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENIUM B.C. AN AMLASH TERRACOTTA STEATOPHYGOUS FIGURE, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENIUM B.C. AN AMLASH TERRACOTTA STEATOPHYGOUS FIGURE, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENIUM B.C. AN AMLASH TERRACOTTA STEATOPHYGOUS FIGURE, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENIUM B.C. AN AMLASH TERRACOTTA STEATOPHYGOUS FIGURE, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENIUM B.C. AN AMLASH TERRACOTTA STEATOPHYGOUS FIGURE, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENIUM B.C.

AN AMLASH TERRACOTTA STEATOPHYGOUS FIGURE, CIRCA EARLY 1ST MILLENIUM B.C.

Reference: ART600454

Typical stylised form, the bulbous face surmounted by a low polos headdress, with elongated neck, vestigial arms, small pointed breasts and exaggerated curved hips, the broad thighs tapering to small feet. The highly stylised and exaggerated heavy-hipped female figures of the Amlash and Marlik cultures demonstrate a reverence for female fecundity.
Accompanied by a custom-made stand and Thermoluminescence test from University of Oxford.
26 cm. height excluding base stand.
Weight: 754 grams.

CONDITION
Intact and very fine condition.

PROVENANCE
Lord Anthony Jacobs (1931-2014) collection, London, acquired from the above in 1995. The Lord Jacobs collection of Iranian Ceramics; Christie's, London, 1 October 2015, lot 40.

NOTES
For a similar figure dating to 1200-1000 B.C., see P. D'Amore, L'Argilla e il Torino, Tecniche e Tipologie vascolari Iraniche dal Periodo del Ferro all'età dell'Impero, Sasanide, Rome, 1999, no. 104. pp. 81-84. P. D'Amore notes that the use of such figures is unknown, though a ritualistic and perhaps funerary function can be presumed.