Mesopotamian Archaeology: An introduction to the archaeology of Mesopotamia and AssyriaHandcock, Percy S. P. (Percy Stuart Peache)
History
Mesopotamian Archaeology: An introduction to the archaeology of Mesopotamia and Assyria
Handcock, Percy S. P. (Percy Stuart Peache)
Iraq -- Antiquities
At Fâra an exquisite head of a Markhur goat was discovered (cf. Fig. 40,
B); the head itself is made of copper, but the eyes were made of shell,
the white of them being represented by white shell, and the pupils by
dark brown. Between the eyes there is a three-cornered ornament of
mother-of-pearl inlaid with white and brown shells. The gazelle’s neck
is hollow, and its head was attached to a wooden body overlaid with
copper.
Another interesting representation of the animal world in metal, has
been bequeathed to us by Dungi, king of Ur, and consists in a bull
reclining on the top of a long nail (cf. Fig. 40, C). The bull recalls
the sacrificial animal portrayed on the little sculptured block
reproduced in Fig. 27. The horns are short as there, but the thick neck
and inflated throat at once give us the idea of a bellowing bull, the
attitude being wonderfully natural, and the whole work full of vigour
and animation. It is about twenty-six inches in height.
In Fig. 40, D[108] we have an illustration of another little metal bull,
the metal in this case being bronze—an indication of a somewhat later
date—and the posture a standing one. The place of its discovery is
uncertain, but as M. Heuzey says, it shows no trace of hard Assyrian
conventionalism, but on the contrary has all the characteristics proper
to early Babylonian art. The bull, which is twelve inches in height and
thirteen inches in length, stands on a narrow plinth to the bottom of
which a nail was apparently fixed, recalling the nail-pointed statuettes
from Tellô. The particular interest of this little figure lies in the
fact that it is inlaid with silver, the object of which was clearly to
represent the markings of a certain breed of bulls. The eyes were once
inlaid with this metal, and the thin plates of silver with which the
body of the animal was inlaid are still in place. This little figure
thus proves that the Babylonians had not only acquired the art of
inlaying objects made of stone, but also those that were made of metal.
Among other early Babylonian representations of animals in metal, may be
mentioned a “bronze lion-headed object” (cf. Fig. 40, E) discovered at
Bismâya.[109] The spike itself, apart from the lion, measures nineteen
inches. As it was found over eight feet below a platform of plano-convex
bricks, its antiquity must be very great, and in the light of subsequent
research it may probably be assumed that it is bronze only in
appearance, like so many of the products of early Sumerian metallurgy,
any alloy there may be in the copper being at this date accidental and
not intentional. The lion is crude, but the artist’s inexperience has
not prevented him from producing an animal both natural in its pose, and
therefore artistic in its effects.
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