3rd millennium BC. A pillow-shaped terracotta administrative tablet with pictographic inscription; accompanied by a handwritten and signed scholarly note by W.G. Lambert, late Professor of Assyriology at the University of Birmingham 1970-1993, which states: 'Clay tablet with Sumerian pictographic inscription, 45x79.5 mm. An administrative document with details on obverse, summary on reverse. Some incrustation, c. 3000 B.C.' 74 grams, 80mm (3"). Part of a specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman; examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s; this small collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples. [No Reserve] Fine condition.