Aniconic stone
Bactria, Central Asia or Asia Minor
Marble
7.25 inches high by 6.7 inches wide (18.4 by 17 cm), 15 lbs.
3rd to 2nd millennium BCE
Ex private collection, Oakland, CA

These egg-shaped marble sculptures are mysterious in function, thought variously to be counter-weights or perhaps ritual idols. They hail from an ancient culture referred to as the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BCAM), which spread throughout the "stans" in Central Asia. The two drilled holes meet at an angle in the middle of the piece.
#5232

$2000