Eye Figurines from Tell Brak, Syria, 4th millennium BC. Via eternalsymbols.com.
These figurines were excavated in the 30’s 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”.
In this case, the holes are more abstract, since they are not clearly “eyes” or “ears”. The figurine with 4 holes is sometimes rendered as having two heads or as having 2 eyes and 2 ears. If the ears are big, they are usually called “elephants”:
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
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.
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.
Africa | Elephant Mask from the Bamiléké people of Cameroon | Postcard; publisher Hoa-Qui n° 3720 BT3. Via delcampe.net.
