Four Astarte figurines. Clay (around 1000 BCE) Iron Age I. © Erich Lessing. According to the source, they are Phoenician and come from the Israel Museum.
This type of head sometimes is said to be that of a bird, or an elephant.
Terracotta statuette of woman with bird face. OASC The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Date: ca. 1450–1200 B.C. Culture: Cypriot. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 173. This figurine is typical of Cypriot coroplastic art of the Late Cypriot II and III periods. The type, with the pubic triangle accentuated and the breasts clearly shown, is likely of Syrian origin, but Cypriot sculptors created their own variations. Handmade and hollow, it has a shaved surface. Her eyes are pellets surrounded by rings. In each large flat ear are two perforations, each containing an earring; the lower ones have overlapping terminals. The infant stretches out its arms and has depressed circles for its eyes.
Terracotta figurine recovered from a site at Charsadda Shaikhan Dheri, Gandhara, Pakistan. Made circa 2nd century BCE. Museum number: IS.20A-195. © Victoria and Albert Museum. Location: Ceramics Study Galleries, Asia & Europe, room 137, case R, shelf 3.
Three Syrian terracotta idols circa 2nd Millenium B.C. © christies.com
One with long cylindrical body, hands held up to chest, the bird-like face with applied disc eyes; one with flat body, arms outstretched, with dotted lines around waist and on necklace, and incised lines on high headdress; and one with flat outstretched arms, headdress and pierced ears
5½ in. (14 cm.) high max. (3)
Bird-Headed Figure Whistle, 8th–9th century Mexico, Veracruz Ceramic. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Female figurine with movable legs. Handmade. Bell-shaped body with modeled breasts, tall neck ending in a bird-like face. From Thebes. Early 7th c. BC. © National Archaeological Museum of Greece.
Maya. painted stucco. height 12 cm. A trio of owls. May be a reference to the messenger owls of the Popol Vuh. Said to have come from Yucatan. Photographs © Justin Kerr via mayavase.com.
Eye idol from Tell Brak, ca. 3700–3500 B.C., Gypsum alabaster, Metropolitan Museum of Art via Archive.org. 1937-38, excavated by Max Mallowan, on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, ceded in the division of finds to the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, acquired by the Museum in 1951, gift of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Accession_number 51.59.6
Eye idol from Tell Brak, ca. 3700–3500 B.C., Gypsum alabaster, Metropolitan Museum of Art via Archive.org. 1937-38, excavated by Max Mallowan, on behalf of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, ceded in the division of finds to the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, acquired by the Museum in 1951, gift of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. Accession_number 51.59.9
Eye Figurines from Tell Brak, Syria, 4th millennium BC. Via eternalsymbols.com.
These figurines were excavated in the 30s of the former century, at Tell Brak, now North-East Syria, it used to be the ancient city of Nagar. Once, a temple was situated at the site and it appears that these “eye idols” were given as offerings, as thousands of them have been found. Hence the temple is called “the Eye Temple”.
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
Africa | Elephant Mask from the Bamiléké people of Cameroon | Postcard; publisher Hoa-Qui n° 3720 BT3. Via delcampe.net.
