Works of Art
Neolithic Aragonite “Mother Goddess”
Period: 6th Millennium B.C.
Culture: Syrian
Category: Array
Dimensions: 9.8 cm
Price: SOLD
Provenance: Ex- French private collection, George Halphen.
Condition: Excellent state of preservation, the statuette is complete without any chips or wear, with a nice original surface.
Description
Made of a stone that is rarely found in Antiquity, this wonderful figurine from Northern Syria (Tell Bouqras?) is quite unique for its genre. It represents a female seated in a half squatting position: the body designed within a triangular outline, of which the head represents the top like the tip of an arrow. All the modelled forms are rounded and very generous like those of the typical steatopygic Neolithic figurines. The posture, the traits and forms and this figure’s face recall the terracotta statuettes from Haçillar, in Anatolia, with which this statuette is contemporary.
Bibliography
AMIET P., Art of the Ancient Near East, London, 1980, n. 164-174.
SPYCKET A., The Human Form Divine, From the Collections of E. Borowski, Jerusalem, 2000, p. 42-43, n. 2.
On the "Mother Goddess", see:
GIMBUTAS M., The Language of the Goddess, London, 1989, p. 54-57.