Harvard Art Museums > 2000.197.A-C: Cuneiform Tablet and Envelope: Old Assyrian Letter Tablets Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Cuneiform Tablet and Envelope: Old Assyrian Letter , 2000.197.A-C,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 25, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/146548. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2000.197.A-C Title Cuneiform Tablet and Envelope: Old Assyrian Letter Classification Tablets Work Type tablet Date c. 1927-1836 BCE Places Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Kultepe (Cappadocia) Period Bronze Age, Middle Culture Assyrian Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/146548 Location Location Level 3, Room 3620, University Study Gallery View this object's location on our interactive map Physical Descriptions Medium Clay Technique Impressed Dimensions tablet: 4.93 x 4.72 x 1.62 cm (1 15/16 x 1 7/8 x 5/8 in.) envelope: 5.5 x 5.52 x 3.07 cm (2 3/16 x 2 3/16 x 1 3/16 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Hans Silvius von Aulock, Istanbul; sold [through Christie's, New York, June 13, 2000, no.556] to Harvard University Art Museums. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Leslie Cheek, Jr. and Purchase through the generosity of Sol Rabin and the Marian H. Phinney Fund Accession Year 2000 Object Number 2000.197.A-C Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Square-shaped clay tablet and envelope inscribed with text written in the Old Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language. The tablet is whole and inscribed on both surfaces. The envelope is partially destroyed, but preserves multiple impressions of the same seal. The tablet and envelope probably come from the trading colony (karum) by the mound of Kültepe (ancient Kanesh) near Kaiseri in Cappadocia (central Anatolia), from the period karum-Kanesh level II (c. 1927-1836 B.C.E). The text is a letter (25 lines) between two copper traders, in which a certain Aššur-lamassi, from an unknown place in central Anatolia, informs a Šu-Belum in Kanesh that he is sending him silver as proceeds of his copper (7 talents, 30 minas), carried by an Iddi(n)-Su'en. Later on, silver for an additional 20 minas of copper will be added. The price for copper is 1 shekel of silver for 62 ½ shekels of copper. All the traders mentioned in this text are also noted in the archive of the well known copper trader Adad-S,ululi, son of Kuskusum/Šu-Anum, excavated in 1948 in the karum area of Kultepe (cf. J.G. Dercksen, The Old Assyrian Copper Trade in Anatolia. PIHANS 75. Leiden 1996, pp. 93-107). On the envelope, which is partially destroyed, the seal of the sender, Aššur-lamassi, is impressed eight times. Information provided by Thomas Sturm, August 2007. Commentary There are three pieces all together: the tablet and the envelope, which is in two pieces. Exhibition History 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 01/02/2022; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/28/2023 - 05/07/2023; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/02/2023 - 12/30/2023; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/31/2024 - 01/05/2025 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
