Early 1st millennium BC. A standing female idol with exaggerated broad hips and short legs tapering to small feet, the arms formed as stumps held at right angles to the body, small rounded breasts, long neck and globular head with high hair ornament behind, with double-pierced ears, reverse with a vertical groove indicating the spine; mounted on custom-made display stand. A nearly identical example, of a shorter size, at Christie's, Paris 'Archeologie: Collection Pierre et Claude Verite' auction sale 1063, December 20, 2011, lot 9.290 grams total, 18cm including stand (7"). Property of a London gentleman; acquired on the London art market before 2000; previously in a UK collection; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10422-171561. Idol figures like this example have been uncovered throughout north-western Iran and the southwestern areas of the Caspian Sea and are some of the region's most enigmatic artefacts. Steatopygous idols as a figural category are understood to be symbolic of fertility, virility, and human sexuality, however the specific symbolic interpretation of these idols is still under discussion among the archaeologists.