CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


By kind permission of British Museum

DEPOSIT INFORMATION

DepositLondon, The British Museum, BM 141548=1985,0223.17
NotesDonated by D.B. Doe, MBE.

SUPPORT INFORMATION

Support typeArtefact » Sculpture in the round » Part of human body
MaterialAlabaster
Measuresh. 22.40, w. 13.50, th. 7.80
Decoration
Figurative subjectHuman figure
      GenderWoman
      Part of human bodyHead
Notes on support and decorationsFemale head with a highly polished rounded face in fine white calcite alabaster which becomes increasingly green down the neck. The very subtlety modelled face has eyes hollowed for inlay, a coffee bean mouth, a well proportioned nose, prominent ears, and a stepped hairline above temples.
The head was originally set in an inscribed base or displayed inside a niche.
There are rough vertical tools marks on the back and on the flat top.

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin and provenance. Conjectural
Modern siteḤayd Ibn ʿAqīl
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areaWādī Bayḥān
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextFunerary context: Necropolis
NotesThe probably provenance from the cemetery of Ḥayd ibn ʿAqīl is proposed by Antonini.
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Antonini 2001: 137-138, pl. 78Antonini, Sabina 2001. La statuaria sudarabica in pietra. Repertorio iconografico sudarabico. 1. Paris: de Boccard / Rome: IsIAO. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres; Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente]
Doe 1971: 259, pl. 18 (far left)Doe, D. Brian 1971. Southern Arabia. London: Thames and Hudson.