STATUETTE OF A GODDESS OR QUEEN Soapstone H. 12.8 cm Near East, circa 2nd millennium BC Provenance Former French estate, collection built up between 1970 and 2000 French collection acquired on the French art market Carved from a single block of stone, the body emerges from the material and presents a figure seated on a throne. Bare-chested, she appears to be wearing a skirt. The neck is adorned with a multi-row necklace, and the head is adorned with a headdress (crown). The attributes and posture indicate that this is a representation of a royal figure or deity. The iconography can be compared with a statue of a seated couple in basalt, Tell Halaf, Eposition "Die geretteten Götter aus dem Palast vom Tell Halaf" (The rescued gods from the palace of Tell Halaf), Pergamon Museum, Berlin. A Near Eastern steatite figure of a seated queen/goddess. Ca. 2nd Millennium B.C.