A CANAANITE BRONZE FIGURE OF A SEATED DEITY

Probably Baal, Lord of the Canaanite Pantheon, in a full-length tightly fit robe, his left hand on his knee, his right arm holding an attribute (now lost). He is bearded and wears a horned crown (the proper right horn lost). The enlarged eye sockets hollowed to accommodate inlays. A massive integral looped tang attached to the soles of the feet and the buttocks would have served to secure the figure to a throne of ivory or wood.

Ugarit, 19th–18th Century BC

Height: 9 cm.     (3 9/16 in.)

Width: 2.9 cm.     (1 1/8 in.)

Ex: French/Lebanese collection amassed in the 1950s–1980s, by repute. Ex: American private collection, acquired on the Swiss market 1991, thence by descent.

#9855

Published:

Antiquarium; Ancient Treasures XX. (London, 2022) p.14

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Comparandum:

Bossert, Helmuth ; Altsyrien : Kunst und Handwerk in Cypern, Syrien, Palästina, Transjordanien und Arabien von den Anfängen bis zum völligen Aufgehen in der griechisch-römischen Kultur. (Tübingen, 1951) p.40, pl.175, no.570