An Amlash terracotta steatophygous figure
Circa early 1st Millennium B.C.
Of typical stylised form, the bulbous face surmounted by a low polos headdress, with elongated neck, vestigial arms, small pointed breasts and exaggerated curved hips, the broad thighs tapering to small feet, 26cm high注脚Provenance:
with Sakae Art Gallery, Japan.
Lord Anthony Jacobs (1931-2014) collection, London, acquired from the above in 1995.
The Lord Jacobs collection of Iranian Ceramics; Christie's, London, 1 October 2015, lot 40.
UK art market.

The highly stylised and exaggerated heavy-hipped female figures of the Amlash and Marlik cultures demonstrate a reverence for female fecundity. For a similar figure dating to 1200-1000 B.C., see P. D'Amore, L'Argilla e il Torino, Tecniche e Tipologie vascolari Iraniche dal Periodo del Ferro all'età dell'Impero, Sasanide, Rome, 1999, no. 104. pp. 81-84. P. D'Amore notes that the use of such figures is unknown, though a ritualistic and perhaps funerary function can be presumed.