A BACTRIAN TRAVERTINE BOWL, LATE 3RD TO EARLY 2ND MILLENIUM BCPublished: Massimo Vidale, Treasures from the Oxus. The Art and Civilization of Central Asia, London/New York, 2017, p. 59, no. 51, described as a truncated cone-shaped bowl in banded calcite or travertine.Oxus Civilization. The deep conical sides supported on a slightly rounded base and rising to an everted rim above a short waisted section. The stone of a beautiful cream color with faint veins of amber.Provenance: Bruno Cooper, Norwich, United Kingdom, 2009. Paolo Bertuzzi, acquired from the above. A copy of the original invoice from Bruno Cooper, Norwich, dated 18 October 2009, describing the piece as a Bactrian truncated cone-shaped bowl in travertine, dating it to the 3rd millennium BC, and stating a purchase price of EUR 1,800 or approx.EUR2,400 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing), apanies this lot. Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022) was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashionpany 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: Very good condition with old wear, few minuscule chips to the rim, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, and natural fissures, some of which may have developed into hairline cracks.Weight: 825.2 gDimensions: Diameter 16.3 cmThe Oxus Civilization or Bactria–Margiana Archaeologicalplex (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