Oxus Civilization. The column of waisted form flaring towards the ends, the top and base with a crescent-shaped central groove. The stone of dark brown marble with white veins, and stress lines filled with calcite.

Provenance: From the collection of Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022), who 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.
Condition: Good condition commensurate with age showing expected old wear and traces of use, some obvious losses, chips, natural fissures, and old fills. Smooth polish.

Weight: 3,782 g
Dimensions: Height 21.2 cm

The Oxus Civilization or Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), recently dated to c. 2250-1700 BC, is the modern archaeological designation for a Bronze Age civilization of Central Asia, previously dated to c. 2400-1900 BC, by Sandro Salvatori, in its urban phase or integration era. Though it may be called the “Oxus civilization”, apparently centered on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus River) in Bactria, most of the BMAC’s urban sites are actually located in Margiana (modern Turkmenistan) on the Murghab river delta and the Kopet Dagh mountain range. There are a few later sites in northern Bactria (c. 1950–1450 BC), the territory of southern Uzbekistan, but they are mostly graveyards belonging to the BMAC-related Sapalli culture. A single BMAC site, known as Dashli, lies in southern Bactria, the territory of northern Afghanistan. Sites found further east, in southwestern Tajikistan, though contemporary with the main BMAC sites in Margiana, are only graveyards, with no urban developments associated with them. BMAC sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi when he was excavating in northern Afghanistan between 1969 and 1979. Sarianidi’s excavations revealed numerous monumental structures in many sites, fortified by impressive walls and gates. Reports on the BMAC were mostly confined to Soviet journals. A journalist from The New York Times wrote in 2001 that during the years of the Soviet Union, the findings were largely unknown to the West until Sarianidi’s work began to be translated in the 1990s.

Several stone objects of this shape have been excavated at sites of the Oxus Civilization. However, it is still unknown what purpose they once fulfilled. It is suggested that these miniature columns at some point entered the rituals of the Oxus funerary practices, having previously performed a practical function that involved strong laces running around and causing intensive wear to the grooves. The present object belongs to a group of shorter, heavily polished columns with one central groove along the top and bottom.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related marble column idol, described as an “incense stand (?)”, 24.8 cm high, dated ca. late 3^rd to early 2^nd millennium BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1992.232.8.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 12 May 2004, lot 185
Price: EUR 8,365 or approx. EUR 12,500 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Bactrian alabaster column idol, 2nd millennium BC
Expert remark: Compare the related form and size (25 cm).