A FIGURAL STYLE 'SNAKE AND LION' CHLORITE VESSEL, CIRCA LATE 3RD MILLENNIUM BC Southeastern Iran, Jiroft culture. The slightly tapered sides boldly carved in relief with a roaring lion standing foursquare flanked by two confronting coiled serpents, the beasts 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, all inlays lost. 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: 1,030 g
Dimensions: Height 9.8 cm, Diameter 12.6 cm

Expert's note: This finely decorated ceremonial vessel belongs to a class of chlorite artifacts from South-Eastern Iran described as 'Figural Style' or 'Jiroft' from the name of the area where they were most likely produced in antiquity. The Figural Style is characterized by high-quality workmanship that combines the use of powerful imagery with simple lines and the extensive use of inlays.

Literature comparison:
The motif of the lion fighting against a snake is a recurrent one in these types of vessels and appears several times amongst the famous corpus of unexcavated artifacts published by Madjidzadeh in 2003, see Y. Madjidzadeh, Jiroft. The Earliest Civilization, Teheran, 2003, pp. 76-94.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Bonhams London, 16 April 2015, lot 43
Estimate: GBP 20,000 or approx. EUR 24,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A 'Figural Style' green chlorite vessel, South-East Iran, circa late 3^rd Millennium B.C.+
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject with fighting lion and snake and decoration with similar relief and deep recesses to take inlays. Note the different form and larger size (25 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Galerie Zacke, 16 October 2021, lot 550
Price: EUR 12,008 or approx. EUR 13,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Western Asiatic chlorite 'snake and lion' jar and cover, 3^rd millennium BC
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and decoration with similar relief and deep recesses to take inlays. Note the slightly different form, cover, and height (12 cm).