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). Both the type and the large size are rare.
Let’s compare how the basic shape of violin the two big holes sometimes are interpreted as eyes, sometimes breasts, sometimes elephant ears, sometimes anthropomorphic, sometimes owl or bird-like:
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.
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).
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
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)
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.
Four Astarte figurines. Clay (around 1000 BCE) Iron Age I. © Erich Lessing.
According to the source, they are from the Israel Museum.
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.
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.
Aerial view of the "Owlman" aka "Astronaut", a geoglyph of the Nazca Lines, which are located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. The geoglyphs of this UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 1994) are spread over a 80 km (50 mi) plateau between the towns of Nazca and Palpa. CC-BY-SA, by Diego Delso via Wikimedia Commons.
Cucuteni Figurines (Romania). © Marius Amarie via archaeology.org. They, and many other figurines like them—such as the one pictured at right—were made by a people we know today as the Cucuteni culture, which lasted from 4800 to 3000 B.C. in what is now Romania and Ukraine. Some scholars have interpreted these lines as representations of body modification. “They could be tattoos,” says San Francisco State University archaeologist Douglass W. Bailey. “Some say they are clothes, or they could represent something else we don’t understand. We will never know for sure, but in a sense, that’s unimportant. What’s important is that they were using the surface of their bodies to communicate ideas, whether they related to membership in a group or individual identity.”
Neolithic ceramic female figurine Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, ca. 5500-2750 BCE, Piatra Neamt Museum. Via ljspillowbook.tumblr.com.
Sculpture,owl, 26 × 17 cm. From Algeria. © lessingimages.com. The source places it between 3rd and 2nd millenium BCE.
Malagan display mask, Northern New Ireland, Papua New Guinea, probably 19th century. Collection of Valerie Franklin. Via Hali.
Figure C. Dinwoody Tradition Cannibal Owl petroglyph from the Wind River area.
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
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 51.59.1
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.
