Three thousand-year-old Yemeni bronze statue sold in London auctions

SANAA, Sept. 11 (YPA) – The Yemeni antiquities expert, Abdullah Mohsen, has revealed the sale of a Yemeni bronze statue that is more than 3,000 years old at Blackas Auction in London on July 3, 2023.

Mohsen explained in a post on his Facebook page that the statue is of a man from the first millennium BC and is only 13 cm tall.

He added that despite the small size of the statue, its archaeological details “aroused astonishment and admiration,” which shows the ingenuity of Yemeni artists in that era.

According to Mohsen, the auction website described the statue as “an Arab man made of copper from West Asia,” a term that has become common in describing Yemeni antiques abroad.

He pointed out that many auction houses avoid using the label “Yemen” to describe antiquities, especially those extracted illegally. Instead, these pieces are called “Southern Arabian antiquities” in an attempt to erase the cultural identity of Yemen.

Mohsen noted that the name (Yemen) is now given to two types of “Yemeni Islamic” antiquities.

YPA