A PAINTED TERRACOTTA FIGURE OF A FERTILITY GODDESS, INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION, CIRCA 3000-2000 BCScientific Analysis Report: A thermoluminescence sample analysis has been conducted by Arcadia, Tecnologie Per I Beni Culturali, Milan, dated 8 April 2014, reference no. 269D. The result is consistent with the suggested period of manufacture. A copy of the signed thermoluminescence analysis report accompanies this lot.The deity seated with outstretched legs, holding a child in her arms with joined hands, the child’s head of triangular section similar to the mother goddess’ long nose, flanked by pierced eyes, the face framed by long strands of hair and large ears, an incised necklace around her neck, wearing a cowl around her head and shoulders, with details painted in black and red.Provenance: From the collection of Paolo Bertuzzi (1943-2022), who was a fashion stylist from Bologna, Italy. He was the son of Enrichetta Bertuzzi, founder of Hettabretz, a noted Italian fashion company 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: Good condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, minor losses, expected old fills and repairs, nicks, scratches, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, and structural cracks.Weight: 1,294 gDimensions: Height 22 cmThe Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form from 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE. Together with ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilizations of the Near East and South Asia, and of the three, the most widespread. Its sites spanned an area from northeast Afghanistan and much of Pakistan to western and northwestern India. The civilization flourished both in the alluvial plain of the Indus River, which flows through the length of Pakistan, and along a system of perennial monsoon-fed rivers that once coursed in the vicinity of the Ghaggar-Hakra, a seasonal river in northwest India and eastern Pakistan. The cities of the ancient Indus were noted for their urban planning, baked brick houses, elaborate drainage systems, water supply systems, clusters of large non-residential buildings, and techniques of handicraft and metallurgy. Mohenjo-daro and Harappa very likely grew to contain between 30,000 and 60,000 individuals, and the civilization may have contained between one and five million individuals during its florescence. It is also known as the Harappan civilization, after its type site Harappa, the first to be excavated early in the 20th century in what was then the Punjab province of British India and is now Punjab, Pakistan. The discovery of Harappa and soon afterwards Mohenjo-daro was the culmination of work that had begun after the founding of the Archaeological Survey of India in the British Raj in 1861. There were earlier and later cultures called Early Harappan and Late Harappan in the same area. The early Harappan cultures were populated by Neolithic cultures, the earliest and best-known of which is Mehrgarh, in Balochistan, Pakistan. Harappan civilization is sometimes called Mature Harappan to distinguish it from the earlier cultures.Literature comparison: Compare three related terracotta fragments of mother goddess figures, dated 2500-2000 BC, in the British Museum, registration number 1939,0619.205. Compare a related terracotta figure of a seated mother goddess, 13.3 cm high, dated ca. 3000-2500 BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 2001.305. Compare a related terracotta figure of a seated mother goddess, 8.6 cm high, dated ca. 3000-2500 BC, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 2001.306.