**Originally Listed At $500**

Ancient Central Asia, Bactria, ca. 3rd to 2nd millennium BCE. A sizable weight that is carved from a pale gray stone with white inclusions bearing an egg-shaped body with a flat base, sloped walls, and biconically drilled suspension holes at an angle through the top. The holes meet in the middle of the interior in a narrow opening through which one can touch two fingers together if one finger is in each drilled hole. Though aniconic objects like this example were used as large-scale weights or counterweights, scholars posit that they could have also taken on ritual or funerary contexts. Size: 7.8" W x 8.9" H (19.8 cm x 22.6 cm)

Provenance: private Ventura County, California, USA collection; ex-Arte Primitivo Gallery, New York, New York, USA

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#157551

Repaired from a few large pieces, with some in-fill material along some of base and lower body, and resurfacing with overpainting along new material and break lines. Nicks and abrasions to base, body, and suspension cavities, with large chip atop one suspension hole, and very light encrustations. Nice smooth surfaces throughout.