Fragment of a Sabaean Alabaster Stele

Culture: Sabaean

Period: 1st century B.C.

Material: Alabaster

Dimensions: 14.8 cm x 17 cm

Price: Sold

Ref: 6152

Provenance: London private collection A.K., acquired at Ghassan Rihanni in the 1980s.

Condition: Fragment of excellent quality.

Description: Fragment of a high-quality alabaster plate with a female figure. Still preserved is the extremely finely modelled head and part of the neck jewellery. The lips are full, the eyes are framed and pierced. There possibly were inlays of blue lapis lazuli inside. A very similar, still intact plate is today in the Yemenite national museum in Sanaa, inventory number YM 71 (illustrated in “Jemen – Kunst und Archäologie im Land der Königin von Saba”, Wilfried Seipel (Hrsg.), Nr. 273, page 334). Some scholars suggest that the figure in Sanaa, who has the same expression like our figure and a similar necklace, is the goddess “dhat-Himyam”. They base her identification that as an apotropaic function or for a blessing gesture her right hand is raised. Mounted.