GALERIE KEVORKIAN
France
21 quai Malaquais, 75006 Paris
Phone: +33 (0)1 42 60 72 91
kevorkian.paris@gmail.com
www.galeriekevorkian.com
Our Gallery, specializing in the arts of the Ancient East and of the Islamic Civilization, was founded in Paris, in the Hotel Drouot district, at the dawn of the 20th century, by Carnig Kevorkian and was later established at its current address on the left bank of the Seine, in 1923. The torch was taken up by his daughter Annie in 1963, then by his granddaughter Corinne since 2006.
The communicative passion, selective eye and unalterable commitment of these three generations of dealers and experts in the promotion of these arts, often relatively unknown to the general public, contributed to widening the circle of their amateurs and participated in the birth and growth of some of the finest private and institutional collections around the world in these fields.
Ritual stand in the form of a kneeling male figure
Arsenical copper, solid cast in one piece by the lost wax process
Height: 23.5 cm T
rans-Elamite Iran, late 3rd millennium BCE
A rare copper vessel stand depicting a slender male figure kneeling on an annular base, with the right leg folded beneath the body and the other leg bent vertically. His left elbow rests on his knee, and his hands are joined with crossed thumbs in front of his face in a gesture of offering or prayer. From the top of his head rises a short pole thant branches into three curved struts supporting a ring at the top.
He is shown bare-chested and wears a skirtlet that forms a V-shaped opening at the front, revealing a rectangular sash hanging down between his thighs. A wide belt, tied at the front, encircles his waist. His head is adorned with a thick, close-fitting headdress with slightly flared edges. The triangular face features high cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes, hollowed to receive inlays, beneath deeply incised brows, delicately rounded ears, a straight nose, and a small mouth.
Green patina.
Provenance
- American private collection, Los Angeles, 1960s
- British collection, London, since 2014
Literature:
- The George Ortiz Collection, In Pursuit of the Absolute – Art of the Ancient World, Royal Academy of Arts,
- London, 1994: nos. 14 and 16 H. Mahboubian, Art of Ancient Iran: Copper and Bronze, London, 1997: nos. 5, 6, 8
Notes
This statuette belongs to a rare group of objects, found from Mesopotamia to Eastern Iran and Bactria, depicting human or animal figures—either alone or in groups—serving as stands. The closest known example to ours is in the George Ortiz Collection. It depicts a man standing on a quadrangular base, dressed in a skirtlet with a wide belt similar to ours, and holding at arm’s length a columnar support with four curved branches topped by a ring. It is attributed to a Mesopotamian production from southern Iran and dated to the late 3rd millennium BCE.
The same Ortiz Collection also includes a fragmentary object—probably also used as a stand—showing three kneeling worshippers on an annular base before what appears to be a “tree of life”. Their posture is similar to that of our figure, even down to the detail of the crossed thumbs of their joined hands, and their bodies are equally slender, though more sketchily rendered and far less detailed. This group, dated to the early 3rd millennium BCE, is attributed to Bactria.
It is likely that this type of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic objects served a cultic or votive function. Placed in a temple, they were probably used to support, between their branches, a vessel or container holding offerings, a lamp, or incense.
BACK
TO THE LIST OF EXHIBITORS