CSAI

Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions


By kind permission of British Museum

DEPOSIT INFORMATION

DepositLondon, The British Museum, BM 130895=1951,0407.14
NotesBequeathed by Sir Antonin Besse.

SUPPORT INFORMATION

Support typeArtefact » Sculpture in the round » Part of human body
MaterialAlabaster
Measuresh. 7.5, w. 7.3, th. 5
Decoration
Figurative subjectHuman figure
      GenderUndefined
      Part of human bodyHead
Notes on support and decorationsSmall head with a well modelled broad face and a plump appearance. The face has lidded eyes, incised eyebrows, a realistic nose, a small smile, a projecting chin, strong cheekbones, and stylised ears. The head, inserted by Antonini among the standing figure, originally belonged to a statuette.
The head ends flat at the hairline; it is rough on top and the back surface is missing.
Antonini suggests that the head represents a woman, while Jamme speaks about a man.

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. 50Jamme, Albert W.F. 1951. Pièces anepigraphes sud-arabes d’Aden. Le Muséon, 64: 157-176.
Jamme 1955 aJamme, Albert W.F. 1955. Pièces qatabanites et sabéennes d'Aden. Anadolu Arastirmalari, 1: 117-126.
Antonini 2001: 91, pl. 45Antonini, 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]