Ancient Yemeni bronze horse statue discovered in Turkish museum
SANAA, Dec. 25 (YPA) -Abdullah Mohsen, a researcher interested in tracking and monitoring antiquities smuggled from Yemen, revealed on Tuesday, the existence of a unique statue from ancient Yemen, dating back to the 4th century BC, in a Turkish museum.
In a post on his Facebook page, titled “Unique Bronze Horse with Inscriptions,” which is part of his series of posts “Yemen’s Antiquities… Abroad,” Mohsen stated that “a bronze horse statue from Yemen’s antiquities, with an inscription, likely from the 4th century BC, is in the Ancient East Museum in Istanbul, Turkey.”
He noted that it is part of a large collection of Yemeni antiquities gathered at different times.
Mohsen explained in his post that bronze statues of horses, lions, wild goats, bulls, donkeys, and other animals from ancient Yemen are famous and widespread in many museums around the world.
He mentioned that among the most famous of these artifacts are two statues. The first one is the “Ghaiman Bronze Horse” that jumps over barriers, which was found in Ghaiman, south of Sanaa.
It was purchased by the famous antiquities dealer (Maurice Nahman), an Egyptian Jew who lived from 1868 to 1948 and was highly active in the trade of Egyptian and other antiquities.
Mohsen pointed out that the horse statue, which is over a meter tall, with a width of 28 cm, remained with the Jewish dealer Nahman until July 1930, when he sold it to the Brammer Gallery in Paris.
It was later transferred to Mildred and Robert Woods Place, Washington, in March 1938, and in November 1940, it was moved to Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library, Byzantine Collection, Washington, where it is still preserved.
Regarding the second famous artifact, Mohsen stated that it is a large and rare bronze statue that was sold at an auction in the Archaeological Center in Jaffa (Tel Aviv) on September 23, 2022.
It is from the collection of the Israeli antiquities collector (Shlomo Musayev).
He added, “The statue depicts a horse ridden by a horseman holding a sword in his belt, dating from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD. It is in good condition, except for the missing hands of the rider from mid-upper arm, the right foot, and the horse’s tail.”
He continued, saying, “In the Military Museum of Sanaa, there is a magnificent bronze statue of a horse standing on a massive base, with inscriptions. On the side of the base, there is also a raised statue of a wild goat.”
@E.Y.M