4th millennium BC. A ceramic figure modelled as a seated goddess with legs folded in front of the body, pinched head and face, wearing a headdress; facial features and detailing to the legs applied in paint. 52 grams, 92mm (3 1/2"). Formerly with a French gallery and kept in the UK since 1982; thence by descent. In the 7th millennium BC, cultures in the Near East began creating organised settlements with developed religious and funerary practices. The Halaf culture of Anatolia and northern Syria produced a variety of figures representing females and associated with fertility. It is not known whether figures such as this were intended to represent real, ideal, or divine women. However, scholars believe that their primary purpose was to encourage female fertility. [No Reserve]

Fair condition, limbs ritually removed.