The carved Guennol Lioness, measuring just over eight centimeters (3 1/4 inches) tall, was described by Sotheby’s auction house as one of the last known masterworks from the dawn of civilization remaining in private hands.
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The lioness was the frequent subject of veneration among cultures familiar with the well-coordinated hunting of female lions. A magnesite or crystalline limestone figure of a lioness, Elam, circa 3000-2800 B.C. It is possible that the nearby Sumerians borrowed this powerful artistic hybrid from the Proto-Elamites. Such images evoked the Mesopotamian belief in attaining power over the physical world by combining the superior physical attributes of various species. Many ancient Near East deities were represented as anthropomorphic figures. Its historical significance is that it was made about the same time as the first known use of the wheel, the development of cuneiform writing, and the emergence of the first cities. Despite her relatively small size, she conveys an unmistakable impression of monumentality. The commanding figure stands with her head turned over her left shoulder paws forcibly clenched in front of her muscular chest. This lioness-woman sculpture is an Elamite figure believed to have been created about 3000–2800 B.C. The Guennol Lioness is a tour de force in limestone that was probably a symbol of power and owned by a figure of great importance. On 3 February 2010, however, the second edition of the cast of the sculpture L'Homme qui marche I (Walking Man I) by Alberto Giacometti sold for £65,001,250 ($104,327,006) and overtook the Guennol Lioness as the most expensive sculpture ever sold at auction. It easily exceeded the record of Pablo Picasso's Tete de femme (Dora Maar). The sale would follow the auction of Bronze Horse head (10 mn), Buddha statue (3.3 mn 4.5mn. The sale is organized by Steel Baron’s heir. Īt the time of its 2007 sale, the price paid at auction for the Guennol Lioness was the highest paid for a sculpture to that date. Identified as the Guennol Lioness, an antique granite figurine of a majestic lioness with over 8 centimeters (3 1/4 inches) tall is expected to fetch 18 million at Sotheby’s in New York on 5 December. One day before the auction, experts had been estimating that the highest bid would be between $14 million and $18 million. It was described by Sotheby's as "one of the last known masterworks from the dawn of civilization remaining in private hands". The limestone sculpture is just over 8 cm (3.25 in) tall. The sculpture was on loan to the Brooklyn Museum of Art until it was purchased at auction by an English collector. The sculpture sold for $57.2 million at Sotheby's auction house on December 5, 2007.
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![guennol lioness guennol lioness](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/12/da/3c/12da3c4323b69dca2f4c1bf57acb198c.jpg)
It shows the form of a muscular anthropomorphic lioness-woman. He would identify himself only as “an English buyer” who wished to remain anonymous.The Guennol Lioness is a 5,000-year-old Mesopotamian statue found near Baghdad, Iraq. When bidding hit $27 million, the successful buyer, a man standing in the saleroom, entered the competition and battled a phone bidder until the hammer came down. The proceeds of the sale will benefit a charitable trust established by the Martin family.įive bidders, including three on the phone and two in the room, competed for the work. Since 1948 the Guennol Lioness has been on loan at the Brooklyn Museum, where Martin served as a trustee and president of the board for nearly 60 years, and has been exhibited at other venues as well. Martin and his wife, Edith, named their extensive art collection and Long Island estate “Guennol,” the Welsh name for Martin (the couple honeymooned in Wales). Just 31⁄4 inches high, the lioness was created about 5,000 years ago in the region of ancient Mesopotamia, Sotheby’s experts said, noting that it was “one of the last known masterworks from the dawn of civilization remaining in private hands.” Said to have been found at a site near Baghdad some 80 years ago by a British archaeologist, the object was acquired in 1948 by Alastair Martin, a grandson of steel magnate Henry Phipps. The price surpassed the previous sculpture record of $29.2 million that was realized at Sotheby’s just last month for Pablo Picasso’s Tête de femme (Dora Maar), cast in 1950 (ANL, 11/27/07, p. NEW YORK-A tiny, ancient limestone figure, the Guennol Lioness, became the costliest sculpture ever sold at auction when it fetched $57.2 million at Sotheby’s antiquities sale in New York on Dec.