A WESTERN ASIATIC 'SNAKE AND BIRD' CHLORITE VESSEL, 3RD MILLENNIUM BC With a slightly domed base and tapering sides rising to a flat everted rim, carved in relief with three birds of prey with spread wings and curved beak, each flanked by two confronting serpents coiled to form a figure of eight, the animals' eyes neatly inlaid in bone, the snakes with many recesses to take inlays.

Provenance: Arthur Huc (1854-1932). Marcel Huc, inherited from the above. Thence by descent within the same family. Arthur Huc was the chief editor of La Dépêche du Midi, at the time the leading newspaper in Toulouse, France. He was also an accomplished art critic and early patron of several artists, including Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec. At the same time, Arthur Huc was a keen collector of Asian art, a passion that he inherited from his legendary ancestor Evariste Régis Huc, also known as the Abbé Huc (1813-1860), a French Catholic priest and traveler who became famous for his accounts of Qing-era China, Mongolia and especially the then-almost-unknown Tibet in his book “Remembrances of a Journey in Tartary, Tibet, and China”.
Inventory List: In 1954, L. Magniette, bailiff of the court in Toulouse (Huissier), was ordered to compile a complete inventory of the collection inherited by Marcel Huc from his father, Arthur Huc, the so-called “Inventaire Huc”. The present lot comes from the same estate as the objects compiled in this inventory, but is not specifically mentioned, possibly because it was deemed too small to warrant inclusion, as suggested by the following entry for four closely related but larger vessels: “Quatre pots anciens en pierre sculptée avec décor d'incrustations ivoire ou os? Haut: 21 cm à 30, Etiquettes: Massoudi ou Iran Nord?” (Four old carved stone jars with inlays of ivory or bone? Height: 21 cm to 30, labels: Massoudi or Northern Iran?). A copy of the inventory list and cover page are accompanying this lot.
Condition: Very good condition, especially when considering the high age of this piece. Scratches, cracks, nicks, losses, minor fills, encrustations, most inlays lost (except for the animals' eyes). Remnants of old varnish. Significant wear, traces of aging, weathering overall.
French Export License: Certificat d'exportation pour un bien culturel Nr. 184687 dated 9 June 2017 has been granted and a copy is accompanying this lot (note that although the certificate was granted for three items, only two lots are being offered at this point).

Weight: 2,902 g
Dimensions: Height 14.2 cm, Diameter 26.3 cm

Literature comparison:
A related chlorite vessel with two zebu, of smaller size, dated 2600-2350 BC and attributed to Al-Rafiah, on the east coast of the island of Tarut, is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 2014.717.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie's London, 1 October 2014, lot 143
Price: GBP 20,000 or approx. EUR 28,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Bactrian chlorite jar, 3^rd millennium B.C.
Expert remark: Compare the related subject and decoration. Note the diameter (9.5 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Galerie Zacke, 6 March 2021, lot 693
Price: EUR 15,168 or approx. EUR 16,500 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Western Asiatic chlorite 'snake' vessel, 3^rd millennium BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related form with similar domed base and tapering sides rising to a flat everted rim as well as the relief and inlay decoration. Note the height (16 cm).