ISLAMIC, Anatolia & al-Jazira (Post-Seljuk). Artuqids (Mardin). Husam al-Din Timurtash, AH 516-547 / AD 1122-1152. Dirham (Bronze, 30 mm, 13.28 g, 8 h), without mint and date. Diademed head of Antiochos VII to right. Rev. In inner field, 'al-Malik al-ālim / al-ādil Husā/m al-Dīn'; around, 'ibn Artuq īl-Ghāzī Timurtāsh ibn'; all in Arabic. Spengler & Sayles 26. A splendid example with an excellent portrait. Light doubling and with minor weakness on the reverse, otherwise, extremely fine.

Within the otherwise largely image-less tradition of Islamic coinage - shaped by the Muslim prohibition on figural representation - the unusual issues of the Artuqids have long attracted considerable interest. Their designs, influenced by Greek, Roman, and Byzantine prototypes, often exhibit such extraordinary precision that there can be little doubt the die cutters had access to original models. So it is with this magnificent piece, which features on its obverse a diademed portrait of a Hellenistic king. A comparison with Seleukid coinage clearly identifies the figure as Antiochos VII (see Lot 320 above), the last significant ruler of the Seleukid dynasty, whose anabasis of 131–129 BC - though initially marked by great success - ended abruptly with his unexpected death in a Parthian ambush. That this particular Hellenistic king - unlike the more readily explained late Roman and Byzantine figures - should appear so prominently on Artuqid coinage is likely due to the vast quantity of silver he issued in preparation for his Parthian campaign. A large portion of these coins accompanied him on his campaign and were lost after his death. More than 1,250 years later, Artuqid artists evidently still had access to these coins - resulting in this striking testament to the Islamic reception of classical antiquity.