North Mesopotamian Tell Halaf Idol

Culture: North Mesopotamia

Period: 6th millennium B.C.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 7.5 cm high

Price: 6 000 Euro

Ref: 6659

Provenance: With Safani Gallery, New York, before 1993. Subsequently in a Swiss family collection until recently. With a TL test from the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, University of Oxford, dated February 12, 1993.

Condition: Figure complete, a crack in the left upper thigh is stabilized. Below the right arm and the right leg, a hole for the TL test.

Description: Very beautiful terracotta idol from Tell Halaf, which is named after the late Neolithic settlement hill in Syria’s northeast. The steatopygic figure depicts a seated woman with the typical features of fertility. Her unstructured legs with massive, high rising thighs taper to a point at the front. She holds her large round breasts up with her semi-circular arms. The neck merges directly into the flat cone-like head, which is covered with a spherical headdress. The hand-sculpted statuette is decorated with reddish-brown ornamentation. Transverse stripes are painted on the legs and arms. Large eyes with thick, radiating eyelashes, reminiscent of sun symbols, are painted on the flat sides of the face. Accompanied by a TL test of 12 February 1993, which confirms the age of the figure.