Western Asia, Bactria, ca. 2nd millennium BCE. A large carved marble idol, with a shallow slot/groove on each flat face, dividing both surfaces into semi-circles. Look closely and you will see some areas of beige pigmented material that probably once covered the surface. An intriguing practice, most definitely intentional on the part of the ancients, about which little is known. A striking piece, carved from white marble, a material that would later be prized for its luminescent quality which gives life to sculptures by artists of the Classical period and beyond. Size: 2.125" deep x 8" in diameter (5.4 cm x 20.3 cm)

Cf. Linenthal, P. Columns, Discs and the Creation of the World, see www.academia.edu/1004617.

Provenance: ex private London, England collection; formerly in the T. Eva collection; acquired from Pars Antiques, London, W1, in the 1990s

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#125439

Overall excellent condition. As noted below, bits of a pigmented plaster-like substance that may have once covered the surface remain.