Syro Hittite Terracotta Idol

Culture: Levant

Period: 2000-1700 B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 13.4 cm high

Price: 2 600 Euro

Ref: 6613

Provenance: From the collection of the French artist Paul Duchein (1930-2024), acquired on 26 October 1975 from l’Hôtel des Chevau Légers in Versailles, lot 91. With an excerpt from the magazine, which promotes the auction and depicts the idol, as well as the relevant catalogue page of 1975.

Condition: A small missing part on the necklace, otherwise intact and very beautifully preserved.

Description: Handmade statuette of a female deity (astarte) with lateral protruding tapering stump arms and a bird’s head face. The large eyes are circularly applied and deeply pierced. Behind the face trapezoidal towering hair with four holes, which probably once carried jewellery. The flat plank idol has a sideways protruding pelvis as a symbol of fertility. Around the neck a finely ribbed necklace. The navel is also circularly applied and deeply pierced. The idol wears a double-rowed jewellery chain, accentuated by incisions around her hips. Her legs, tapering downwards, are separated by an indentation in the middle. Her feet are elegantly curved forward. On a plexiglass base.