**Originally Listed At $400**

Western Asia, modern day Iran, Proto-Elamite (Susa III), ca. 3400 to 3200 BCE. A very rare, fascinating steatite seal stamp of ovoid form, drilled horizontally for suspension on a cord, and decorated with a standing figure, arms outstretched to each side, he holds a stone sickle in his proper right hand and appears to cutting down stalks of grain, which are shown in front and behind him; long thin legs with triangular feet. Size: 1.25" W x 1.375" H (3.2 cm x 3.5 cm)

From the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative at the University of Oxford: "Proto-Elamite is the last un-deciphered writing system from the Ancient Near East with a substantial number of sources (more than 1600 published texts). It was used for a relatively short period around 3000 BC across what is today Iran. Proto-Elamite is a derived writing system originating from the Uruk invention of writing in southern Mesopotamia during the middle of the 4th millennium BC. Scribes in Susa in southwestern Iran took over a majority of the numerical signs as well as many of the numerical systems from the older proto-cuneiform system."

Provenance: private Middletown, New York, USA collection before 1975; ex-Bonham's Knightsbridge, London, May 16, 2002, part of lot 321; ex-private German collection

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#174472

Wonderful patina on surface and obvious signs of repeated usage.