Guennol Lioness

The Guennol Lioness is a 8.26 -centimeter proto- Elamite limestone statuette, created about 3000 BC

The piece was about 1930 in Baghdad, possibly in the Susa temple at Tell Agreb unearthed. This is remarkable, as the proto- Elamite and Elamite rather lived in what is now western Iran.

The name is misleading in two respects, Guennol is not the location, but the Welsh translation of the name of Martin, it belonged to the collector Alastair Bradley namely long Martin. The mythical creature depicted is not a lion, but a kind of demon with a female lion head.

Alastair Bradley Martin was it was since 1948 owner of the statue, on display at the Brooklyn Museum. The figure is since 2007 the most expensive antique ever when it was auctioned at Sotheby's in New York. Fourteen to eighteen million dollars had been budgeted, but a unknown bidder was awarded the contract at 57 million.

By 2010, the statuette was actually the most expensive ever sold plastic at all, but was surpassed by Alberto Giacometti's L' Homme qui marche I in the price.