Disbursement of bitumen or barley

[Old Akkadian cuneiform]. Old Akkadian cuneiform clay tablet: legal document on the disbursement of materials.

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A small, complete, and uncommonly fine old Akkadian clay tablet with seven lines on the front and a single line on the back executed in large, clear script. The text is a legal document: although this is not made explicit, it concerns the disbursement of materials, perhaps bitumen or barley. It translates as: "12 gur, U-ma; 1 gur, Sukkal-ra; (the goddess) Ur-Inanna; it is Ur-su, the scribe, who gave it to him".

Residue of an old collection label on the back, otherwise very finely preserved. Includes translation and collector's note.

Provenance: from the collection of Geoffrey Philip Wilson (1930-2015), founding professor of law at the University of Warwick, acquired in the 1960s. Later in a London gallery and last in an Austrian private collection.