Friday, 28 June 2019

Cunies as "Western", Christie's?


Coming up in an auction house near you within a fortnight: 'The History of Western Script: Important Antiquities and Manuscripts from the Schøyen Collection' London8 King Street St. James 's 10 Jul, 10:30am (Lots 401 - 461). Including....
 2 godziny temu2 godziny temuWięcejIraqi artefacts from Uruk DhiQar being sold at Christie's in London on 10th July 2019. Just absolutely appalling and disgusting.
Both are said to be: "Provenance: (1) Ancient Near Eastern Texts from the Erlenmeyer Collection; Christie's, London 13 December 1988", the first is "lot 35", the second "lot 114". This old (Swiss!) collection was flogged off in parts between 1988 and 1992 and among other things was responsible for the rise in price of Mesopotamian antiquities on the international art market.

Why is this "western script"? More "west" than what?



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1 comment:

  1. David Knell1 July 2019 at 06:48

    Why is this "western script"?

    To be fair, Christie's never said it is. They include two tablets as part of "The History of Western Script" - much as a couple of Chinese examples might be included in a history of British porcelain to illustrate its origin and inspiration.

    It's vital to explore human developments in a global context rather than a localised one. As to the ethicality of the objects' provenance, that's an entirely separate issue.

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