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Lot 1
A Sumerian Clay Cuneiform Tablet
Sale 910 - Antiquities & Ethnographic Art
Nov 18, 2021 10:00AM CT
Live / Chicago
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Estimate
$400 - 600
Price Realized
$2,813
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
A Sumerian Clay Cuneiform Tablet
Third Dynasty of Ur, Circa 22nd-21st Century B.C.
Height 2 1/4 inches (5 cm).
Property from the Collection of Anne Gurewich Gordon, Bethesda, Maryland

Provenance: 
Probably Dikran Kelekian Gallery, New York. 
Acquired by Vladimir Gurewich, late 1940s or early 1950s; thence by descent.
(with signed statement from owner)

Note: 
This tablet is an account of grain-fed sheep for several deities (Enlil, Nin-lil, Nanna, Nanaya, Inanna) as palace offerings. The official who issued the animals is Enlil-zishagl, a well-known official involved in many other similar texts that date to the reign of King Shu-Suen of Ur. Many related tablets were sold in the United States  in the early decades of the 20th century, prior to 1930, and are now in museums and institutions throughout the country.
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