A GROOVED TRAVERTINE WEIGHT, 3RD MILLENIUM BC

A GROOVED TRAVERTINE WEIGHT, 3RD MILLENIUM BC
Oxus Civilization. The stone of ovoid form with a groove to each side. The travertine stone of a light beige tone with lighter and darker inclusions.
Condition:
Good condition with old wear, signs of weathering and erosion, minor losses, nicks, scratches, and encrustations.
Provenance:
Gallery Axel Vervoordt, Kanaal, Belgium. Estate of Paolo Bertuzzi, acquired from above in 2004. A copy of the original invoice addressed to Mr Paolo Bertuzzi, dated 30 July 2005, and stating a purchase price of EUR 3,500 or approx.
EUR 5,400
(adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), accompanies this lot. Axel Vervoordt (born 1947) is a Belgian antiques and art dealer, collector, and interior designer. He founded his company in Antwerp in 1969, and in 1998, he and his family acquired an industrial site which they turned into a small green town that offers spaces for art and exhibits works by renowned artists such as Anish Kapoor, James Turrell, Marina Abramovic, Otto Boll, and Tatsuo Miyajima. Vervoordt further designed several spaces for, among others, Robert de Niro, Kim Kardashian, and Kanye West. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashion company with customers such as the Rothschild family, Audrey Hepburn, and Elizabeth Taylor. Paolo Bertuzzi later took over his mother's business and designed exclusive pieces, some of which were exhibited in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York, USA. He was also an avid collector of antiques for more than 60 years. His collection includes both archaic and contemporary art, and he edited two important books about Asian art, Goa Made - An Archaeological Discovery, about a large-scale archaeological project carried out with the Italian and Indonesian governments, and Majapahit, Masterpieces from a Forgotten Kingdom.
Published:
Massimo Vidale, Treasures from the Oxus. The Art and Civilization of Central Asia, London/New York, 2017, p. 45, no. 42.
Weight: 10.8 kg
Dimensions: Length c. 26.5 cm
The groove hosted a cord
that suspended the weights. Many different weights such as this have been found in sites of Central Asia, dating from the fourth millennium BC onward.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby's New York, 6 December 2006, lot 175
Price: USD 13,200 or approx.
EUR 19,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Two Bactrian stone weights, circa late 3rd/early 2nd millennium BC
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie's New York, 9 December 2015, lot 98
Price: USD 10,000 or approx.
EUR 12,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Two Bactrian stone weights, circa late 3rd-early 2nd millennium BC