A Syrian bronze goddess, middle bronze age IIA, c.1950-1750 B.C.E. © Christie’s. 10¾ in. (27.3 cm.) high.
Provenance: Art Market, Switzerland, 1991.
Private Collection.
with Fred Schultz, New York, 1994 (Mesopotamia in the First Days, no. 23).
with Phoenix Ancient Art, Geneva and New York, 2006 (Catalogue 1, no. 36).
Private Collection, Belgium, 2006.
It’s not specifically from there, but I’ve put it in Tell Brak just to reflect more or less it’s origins:
Let’s see more of these:
Amulet in the form of a head of an elephant. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Period: Predynastic, Naqada II
Date: ca. 3500–3300 B.C.
Geography: From Egypt
Medium: Serpentine Bone
Dimensions: h. 3.5 × w. 3.6 × d. 2.1 cm (1 3/8 × 1 7/16 × 13/16 in.)
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1959
Accession Number: 59.101.1
Bamileke. Kuosi Society Elephant Mask, 20th century. Cloth, beads, raffia, fiber, 57 3/4 x 20 1/2 x 11 1/2 in. (146.7 x 52.1 x 29.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Mr. and Mrs. Milton F. Rosenthal, 81.170. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum. Elephant mask composed of cloth to which various colored beads have been sewn, and wearing its own complimentary hat. The cloth foundation is primarily deep navy blue. The mask form is composed of a hood-like head/face with round eyes outlined in red cloth and white beads, a nose of red cloth to which are sewn pale blue beads, and an oval shaped red cloth mouth outlined in white beads. The rest of the face has white, deep yellow, and varying shades of blue beads, as well as cowrie shell decoration. The square shaped hat attached to the back of the hood is decorated with blue and white beads. The mask has large disk shaped ears with white, blue and deep yellow beads. Two long rectangular panels (representing the elephants trunk) extend down the head; there is one panel in front and one hangs in the back. The inside lining of the panels is woven raffia fiber cloth. The panels have white, blue, ochre, and red beads. The bead design is geometric and relies primarily on a basic isisceles triangle pattern and its variants, for example, triangle radiates outward from a circle, or are arranged in an hour-glass like design. ACCESSION NUMBER 81.170
CREDIT LINE Purchased with funds given by Mr. and Mrs. Milton F. Rosenthal
CC-BY-SA.
Eye figurines from the Eye Temple in Tell Brak. PD by Helvetiker via Wikimedia Commons. Original caption reads: Schaffhausen, Museum zu Allerheiligen, Sammlung Ebnöther, (Abteilung "Idole") Zwei Augenidole, links: Kalkstein (Höhe 19,3 cm), rechts: Alabaster (Höhe: 4,6 cm), aus Syrien, 2. Hälfte des 4. Jahrtausend vor Christus; genaue Provenienz nicht angegeben; solche Idole wurden lt. Katalog gefunden in Tepe Gaura und im Augentempel von Tell Brak (Katalog 1999, S. 22).
Double-faced female Tlatilco figure, Central Mexico, 1200–900 B.C. © Princeton University Art Museum.
Ceramic with traces of pigment.
h. 9.5 cm., w. 4.8 cm., d. 2.1 cm. (3 3/4 × 1 7/8 × 13/16 in.)
Gift of Gillett G. Griffin. 1999-245.
Anatolian Idol in the Form of a Stylized Female Figure. 3500 BC - 2500 BC. Silver, height 3.3 cm. Acquired on the European Art Market, 1994. Serial Nº: 13384. © e-tiquities.com.
Female idol with jewelry and costume. From Ludus, Serbia, Dubovac Culture. Terracotta (15th BCE). © lessing-photo.com. Height 20 cm. Inv. 10.439. From the Narodni Muzej, Belgrade, Slovenia.
Goddess | Pakistan (Quetta area) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Several types of plank or slab figures were made during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. The representation of the human figure ranges from those with one neck and abstract linear designs to figures with bodies that are rectangular with anatomical features carved in low relief. The meaning of these idols is speculative but may refer to ritual magic connected with the owner’s desire for multiple births and fertility.
A large Mesopotamian stone spectacle idol, circa 3000 B.C. The architectonic base of rectangular form with rounded edges, decorated with reed houses with characteristic arching doorways, band of zigzags and chevrons above, the "eyes" on a long conical-shaped neck 10¼ in. (26 cm.) high.
christies.com
Sumerian Large Terracotta Eye Idol. 4th Millennium BC. H. 7 1/2 in. (19 cm.). Ex German private collection. © royalathena.com.
Published: J. Eisenberg, Art of the Ancient World, 2006, no. 220 (amazon).
Pottery figurine from the Middle Euphrates EBIV 2400-2000 BCE. Photographed at The British Museum in London, United Kingdom. CC BY-NC-SA by Mary Harrsch via flickr.
Africa | Elephant Mask from the Bamiléké people of Cameroon | Postcard; publisher Hoa-Qui n° 3720 BT3. Via delcampe.net.
