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Description |
Bronze inkwell, Khirbet Qumran, before 68 AD, with 2 basket type handles turning opposite direction on the concave top, round corpus, h. 8 cm, diam. 8 cm, with pedestal base, decoration of parallel incised lines around rim and around ink hole. Green patina.
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Context |
Found 1950 on the Khirbet Qumran site prior to the official excavations, together with a bronze miniature incense altar with 4 protruding horns at the corners, MS 1655/4. 4-5 other inkwells in bronze and clay were found during the excavations at Khirbet Qumran in 1951, 1953 and 1966-67. There exist only 2 more inkwells of the elaborate type of the present item. MS 1987/15 and one published by Nabil I. Khairy, Inkwells of the Roman Period from Jordan, in Levant 12(1980), pp. 155-162, figure 5a and plate 25D.
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Provenance |
1. Community of the Essenes, Qumran (until 68 AD); 2. Khirbet Qumran site (68-1950); 3. Members of the Ta'amireh tribe, Judaean desert (ca. 1950); 4. Khalil Iskander Shahin ("Kando"), Bethlehem (1950-1953; 5. John Marco Allegro, Oxford and Manchester (1953-1963)?; 6. Private Collector, USA (1963-1975); 7. Fayez Barakat, Los Angeles, Cat. VI F.Z. 181(1975); 8. Mathias Komor, New York (1975-); 9. American Collector (-1992); 10. David Goldstein, Los Angeles (1992-1993).
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Published |
Stephen Goranson: Qumran, a hub of scribal activity?, in: Biblical Archaeology Review, vol. 20 no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 1994), pp. 36-39. The other Qumran inkwells are widely published by de Vaux, Allegro, Steckoll, Goranson and others.
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