CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


By kind permission of British Museum

DEPOSIT INFORMATION

DepositLondon, The British Museum, BM 130894=1951,0407.13
NotesBequeathed by Sir Antonin Besse.

SUPPORT INFORMATION

Support typeArtefact » Sculpture in the round » Part of human body
MaterialStone
Measuresh. 9, w. 6.3, th. 5.2
Decoration
Figurative subjectHuman figure
      GenderWoman
      Part of human bodyHead
Notes on support and decorationsSmall limestone head of a female with a round gentle face, large round eyes, a small nose and mouth, and finished chin length hair flowing straight down the back, tucked behind the ears, with a rough poll. The depth of carving is such that it could be fully in the round, although there is a finished back surface.
Antonini suggests that the head can belong to a sitting figure.

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areawādī Bayḥān
CountryYemen
Archaeological contextFunerary context
NotesAccording to A. Jamme (cf. Jamme 1955 a: 117), all the objects of the Besse collection are originating from the wādī Bayḥān region.
Link to site record

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1951: 175, no. 49Jamme, Albert W.F. 1951. Pièces anepigraphes sud-arabes d’Aden. Le Muséon, 64: 157-176.
Antonini 2001: 106-107, pl. 58Antonini, 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]