CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions

DASI

BM 130901 Ja 51


By kind permission of British Museum

DEPOSIT INFORMATION

DepositLondon, The British Museum, BM 130901= 1951,0407.20
NotesBequeathed by Sir Antonin Besse.

SUPPORT INFORMATION

Support typeArtefact » Sculpture in the round » Human figure
MaterialBronze
Measuresh. 14.4, w. 5.07, th. 3.1, wt. 344.5 g
Decoration
Figurative subjectHuman figure
      GenderWoman
      Part of human bodyComplete figure
      Human gestureStanding
      Human clothes and attributesNude
      Human jewelleryDiadem
Notes on support and decorationsA cast bronze statuette of a naked woman wearing a diadem with her hair centrally parted and rolled into a plait, which hangs down the back. The hair is indicated with incised lines. She has her left hand over one breast and may have been holding an object in her right (this hand is slightly misshapen).
The figure is missing the right leg from the knee.

ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE

Origin. Conjectural
Modern siteUnknown
Ancient siteUnknown
Geographical areawādī Bayḥān
CountryYemen
NotesThe provenience from wādī Bayḥān has been proposed by Jamme.
According to ʿAlī Aqīl, Antonini 2007: 137, the provenience could be Timnaʿ.
Link to site record

NOTES

Proposed dating: the statuette is probably an import datable to the 2nd- 1st century BC (ʿAlī ʿAqīl and Antonini 2007: 38, 137).

CULTURAL NOTES

Religion
The statuette represents the goddess Aphrodite.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jamme 1951: 175, no. 51Jamme, Albert W.F. 1951. Pièces anepigraphes sud-arabes d’Aden. Le Muséon, 64: 157-176.
Jamme 1955 a: 126, no. 51Jamme, Albert W.F. 1955. Pièces qatabanites et sabéennes d'Aden. Anadolu Arastirmalari, 1: 117-126.
Jamme 1971 b: 40-41Jamme, Albert W.F. 1971. Miscellanées d'ancient arabe II. Washington. 2019/07/23; https://cuislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/cuislandora%3A206497#page/1/mode/1up. [Privately printed]
ʿAlī ʿAqīl and Antonini 2007: 38, 137ʿAlī ʿAqīl,ʿAzza and Antonini, Sabina 2007. Bronzi sudarabici di periodo preislamico. Repertorio iconografico sudarabico. 3. Paris: de Boccard / Rome: IsIAO. [Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres; Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente]