Works of Art
Syrian Alabaster Figurine of a Bovid
Period: Habuba or Tell Brak, late Neolithic, circa 3300-3000 B.C.
Culture: Syrian, Levantine, Phoenician
Category:
Dimensions: Lenght: 12.1 cm
Price: POR
Provenance: Ex-American private collection 1980-1990
Condition: The sculpture is nearly intact; the smooth surface shows the many tool marks left by the artist while carving. Under the belly, there is a cylindrical hole, probably ancient, which was used to fix the statuette to its pedestal.
Description
The carver represented the quadruped with simple and expressive features: hooked horns, a short muzzle and a squat, cylindrical body are enough to easily identify the species that the statuette represents.
Rounded volumes (legs, shoulders) and incisions or ridges (see the muzzle with the ears, the eyes, the nostrils and the mouth, as well as the hooves and the tail) indicate the anatomical details.
This piece finds its originality and strength in its linear and precise, though naive, shapes. It does not seem to have precise parallels in Near Eastern sculpture, except for figurines or receptacles in the shape of animals, generally representing rams - domesticated earlier than the bovids - or other species, like rabbits, hedgehogs, birds, etc.
This figure was found as part of an important set of alabaster objects, including four containers with lug handles a well known type - , and eye idols: this could indicate that the animal belonged to a funerary setting or was dedicated as an ex-voto in a sanctuary.
The stylistic and formal simplicity of the statuette certainly attracts the eye of the modern spectator.
Bibliography
AMIET P., Art of the Ancient Near East, New York, 1980, p. 352, n. 190-192.
FORTIN M., Syrie, Terre de civilisations, Montreal, 1999, p. 177, n. 105-106.
HARPER P.O. (ed.), The Royal City of Susa, Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre, New York, 1992, p. 32-33, 36, n. 1-2, 4-5.
KEEL O. - STÄUBLI T., Les animaux du 6ème jour, Freibourg, 2001, p. 30, n. 2.