A Black Chlorite Bust of a Mythological Hero, Bactria or Eastern Persia , circa 2200-2000 B.C.

of powerful form standing and holding a rectangular bowl in his left hand, his missing right arm carved separately, his upward turned head with full beard composed of rows of dotted circular curls, incised mouth with holes drilled above and below, long slightly aquiline nose, recessed eyes with finely contoured lids, and thick arching eyebrows, a long shell-inlaid scar crossing the right side of his face, another large scar with inlay missing on the left cheek, his hair arranged in horizontal chevron-incised rows and formerly surmounted by a cap fastened to the tenon and secured by a mortise.

reputed to have been found prior to 1961 (Ghirshman, op. cit., p. 151)
Mohsen Foroughi (1907-1984)
Ishiguro Collection
Christie's, New York, June 13th, 2000, no. 439, illus.
Phoenix Ancient Art

Roman Ghirshman, "Notes iraniennes XII. Statuettes archaïques du Fars (Iran)," Artibus Asiae, vol. XXVI, 1963, no. 4, figs. 9 and 10
W. Nagel, "Westmakkanische Rundplastik," Berliner Jahrbuch für vor- und frühgeschichte, vol. 8, 1968, B, p. 107f., pls. VI, XXII, 3
Machteld J. Mellink and Jan Filip, Frühe Stufen der Kunst (Propyläen Kunstgeschichte 13), Berlin, 1974, p. 166, pl. 80
Agnès Spycket, La statuaire du Proche-Orient ancien, Leiden, 1981, p. 216

Very good, as shown in the photos and described in the text. Surface somewhat worn as if from handling, chip at base of tenon for attachment to the legs, other large chips at the proper right shoulder above the missing arm.
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This bust was once part of a composite figure, the arms and legs made of a different or different materials. The present example is one of the largest in scale of all known figures of this type and, unlike most of them, its body is not covered with scales.

According to Ghirshman the present bust was fortuitously discovered in the Fars region of Iran, a few dozen kilometers south-east of Shiraz, as part of a group of six composite figures all related in material, style, and iconography.

Four of these figures, including this one, entered the collection of architect and art collector Mohsen Foroughi (Ghirshman, op. cit., nos. 1, 3, 4 and 5); the figure listed by Ghirshman as no. 1, figs. 1-3, was exhibited several times: Kunsthaus Zurich, Kunstschätze aus Iran, 1962, no. 4, pl. I; Musée Rath, Trésors de l'Iran ancien, Geneva, 1966, no. 25, pl. 5, and 7000 years of Iranian Art, Smithsonian Institutions, Washington DC, 1964-1965; also see W. Orthmann, Der alte Orient (Propyläen Kunstgeschichte), Berlin, 1975, no. 277.

Another figure from the same group (Ghirshman, op. cit., no. 2, figs. 4-5) entered the Azizbeghlou collection and later the Gillet Collection; it was subsequently sold at Sotheby's, London, Antiquities from the Schuster Collection, July 10th, 1989, no. 59, and was recently acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 2010.166: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, vol. LVIII, no. 2, Fall 2010, p. 4).

The sixth example entered the Louvre circa 1961 under inv. no. AO 21104 (P. Amiet, "Antiquities of Bactria and Outer Iran in the Louvre Collection," Bactria, an Ancient Oasis Civilization from the Sands of Afghanistan, pp. 159-180, fig. 20c, and A. Caubet and M. Bernus-Taylor, The Louvre, Near Eastern Antiquities, London, 1991, p. 36, and Art of the First Cities, exhibition Catalogue, New York, 2003, no. 244).

For other related examples see W. Nagel, "Frühe Grossplastik und die Hochkulturkunst am Erythräischen Meer," Berliner Jahrbuch für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, 1968, pl. XVIII, figs. 1 and 2, and one formerly in the Breitbart Collection (Sotheby's, New York, June 5th, 1999, no. 74; said to come from the Foroughi collection but not part of the four figures published by Ghirshman).