Metropolitan Museum V

Plaque with the Face of Humbaba Ceramic Mesopotamia Old Babylonian period Early 2nd millennium BC Accession # 55.162.1 Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Cuneiform Tablet: excerpt from a list of deities Clay Mesopotamia Neo-Babylonian period, 5th-4th century BC Accession # 86.11.357 This tablet was part of a series that listed the names of many Mesopotamian deities, both major and minor. The fragment contains the name of the divine hero Gilgamesh, as well as the names of seven minor deities. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Molded Plaques with Couples Ceramic Southern Mesopotamia Isin-Larsa or Old Babylonian period, 2000-1700 BC Accession Numbers: 32.39.1 and 1974.347.1 Plaques depicting sexual acts were mass produced in Mesopotamia during the early second millennium BC and may have been used as amulets to promote potency and fertility. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Molded Plaques with Couples Ceramic Southern Mesopotamia Isin-Larsa or Old Babylonian period, 2000-1700 BC Accession Numbers: 32.39.1 and 1974.347.1 Plaques depicting sexual acts were mass produced in Mesopotamia during the early second millennium BC and may have been used as amulets to promote potency and fertility. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Fish-Shaped Vessel Alabaster (gypsum), shell Syria (?) 2nd millennium BC (?) Accession Number: 1984.453.2 Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Title: Plaque with two male figures supporting a roller Period: Old Babylonian Date: 2000-1600 BC Geography: Mesopotamia Medium: Bronze Dimensions: 4 x 4 1/8 in. (10.2 x 10.5 cm) Classification: Metalwork-Relief Credit Line: Purchase, Norbert Schimmel and Schimmel Foundation, Inc., Gifts and Rogers Fund, 1980 Accession Number: 1980.407.1 On View Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...

Title: Plaque with a nude female between two bearded males wearing kilts Period: Old Babylonian Date: 2000-1600 BC Geography: Mesopotamia Medium: Bronze Dimensions: 3 7/8 x 3 7/8 in. (9.7 x 9.7 cm) Classification: Metalwork-Relief Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Inanna Gifts, 1998 Accession Number: 1998.31 On View Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...

Title: Pendant in the shape of a striding lion Period: Early Bronze Age Date: ca. mid-3rd millennium B.C. Geography: Syria Medium: Silver, bronze Dimensions: H. 1 1/2 x W. 1 3/4 x D. 2 3/8 in. (3.8 x 4.5 x 6.1 cm) Classification: Metalwork-Ornament Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1985 Accession Number: 1985.217.2 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...

Pin in the form of a lion Period: Iron Age II Date: ca. 9th century B.C. Geography: Iran, Hasanlu Medium: Bronze, iron Dimensions: 2.28 x 5 in. (5.79 x 12.7 cm) Classification: Metalwork-Ornament Credit Line: Purchase, Mrs. Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff Gift, 1961 Accession Number: 61.100.10 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/3000...

Title: Man and dog Period: Neo-Babylonian Date: 7th–6th century B.C. Geography: Mesopotamia Medium: Bronze Dimensions: 2.76 in. (7.01 cm) Classification: Metalwork-Sculpture Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1939 Accession Number: 39.30 On View Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...

Plaque depicting a horse and rider Period: Neo-Assyrian Date: ca. 883–859 B.C. Geography: Mesopotamia Culture: Assyrian Medium: Bronze, traces of gold overlay Dimensions: 0.51 x 4.59 in. (1.3 x 11.66 cm) Classification: Metalwork-Relief Credit Line: Purchase, Nathaniel Spear Jr. Gift, 1988 Accession Number: 1988.80 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/3000... The holes indicate that this plaque was attached to another object, but its function eludes us. Represented is an unarmed male dressed in animal skins, who holds one horse by the mane and another by a cord in his left hand (only the head of the second horse can be seen.) Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Title: Shell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plants Period: Iron Age II Date: ca. 8th–7th century B.C. Geography: Levant Medium: Shell (Tridacna squamosa) Dimensions: 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (7 x 3.8 cm) Classification: Shell-Sculpture Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Inanna Gifts, 1999 Accession Number: 1999.81 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...

Title: Shell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plants Period: Iron Age II Date: ca. 8th–7th century B.C. Geography: Levant Medium: Shell (Tridacna squamosa) Dimensions: 2 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (7 x 3.8 cm) Classification: Shell-Sculpture Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Inanna Gifts, 1999 Accession Number: 1999.81 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...

Lid (?) with a Serpent Silver Central Asia (Bactria- Margiana) or Southeastern Iran Late 3rd- early 2nd millennium BC Accession # 1989.281.42 Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Cult vessel in the form of a tower, 19th century b.c.; Old Babylonian period Syria Ceramic H. 12 3/8 in. (31.4 cm) Rogers Fund, 1968 (68.155) This two-story tower is surmounted by a male figure grasping the hindquarters of two lions. A large vessel rests between the felines. A door is cut into the lower facade and a window on the upper floor; circular bosses indicating wooden beams appear at the top of each story. The entire stand is pierced from the vessel at the top through each level, including the bottom, so that liquid libations might be poured in a ritual of some sort. Such an object would have been used in a temple or sanctuary during religious rites. The style is crude in comparison to the delicacy of the multiple cylinder-seal impressions that were made across the top in front of the lions. The Syro-Anatolian seal depicts a seated male figure with a striding male before him dressed in a kilt with arms bent and held out in a gesture of respect and greeting. In between the two is a monkey as a filler motif. Behind the seated figure is a smiting deity wearing a kilt and horned crown. He holds what seem to be the weapons of the weather god—a lightning bolt and sword. The vessel is comparable to other second-millennium tower-shaped examples excavated in Mesopotamia and the Levant and probably was placed on top of an offering stand. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/68.155

Beaker with Birds and Animals Silver Thrace, lower Danube region Thraco-Getian, 4th century BC Accession # 47.100.88 The scene depicts a row of stags, a goat, a bird, and a bird of prey attacking a fish and a hare. On the base is a beast eating the leg of an animal while holding another in its claws. A vessel almost identical in form and representation to this example was excavated at Agighiol in Romania. The extraordinary and exotic stylization- for example birds' heads projecting from antlers- is foreign to Western concepts and powerfully reflects Central Asian sensibilities and ideology. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art label.

Part of a throne with deity on a bull, late 8th–7th century b.c.; Urartian style Probably Toprakkale, eastern Anatolia Bronze H. 5 3/4 in. (14.6 cm) Dodge Fund, 1950 (50.163) Urartu was a powerful kingdom that rivaled the Assyrian empire in the first millennium B.C. It extended from northeastern Turkey into northwestern Iran. Its settlements were palace-fortresses that protected agricultural production and supported many crafts, especially an extensive metalworking industry. In the late seventh century B.C., Urartian centers were destroyed by an enemy whose identity remains unknown. This object, with the lower part of a figure standing along the flanks of a bull, was most likely part of a throne. From better-preserved examples, we know that the figure wore the horned crown of a deity. The whole would have been gilded. A throne and footstool supported by four deities and their animal companions would have been a potent symbol of the Urartian king's power. Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/50.163 and The Kingdom of Urartu In the early first millennium BC, the kingdom of Urartu dominated much of the mountainous highland region in what is now northeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran. To the south were the Assyrians, whose records of their invasions into Urartian territory provide much of our knowledge of the history and geography of Urartu. The Urartian king Menua (ca. 810-781 BC) and his son Argishti I (ca. 781-760 BC) enlarged the borders and ensured that the kingdom remained powerful until the late seventh century BC. Excavations of fortified cities, temples, and tombs at such sites as Toprak Kale, Karmir Blur, and Altyn Tepe have revealed remains of Urartian material culture: finely crafted bronze helmets, shields, belts, pins, plaques, cauldrons, and gilded furniture attachments, often decorated with supernatural creatures combining human and animal elements. Urartian art exhibits Assyrian and distinctive local traits. Text from the Metropolitan Museum of Art plaque.

Title: Vessel fragment in the form of a boar's head Period: Iron Age Date: 7th–6th century B.C. Geography: Phrygia Medium: Ceramic, paint Dimensions: 4.09 x 2.72 x 4.53 in. (10.39 x 6.91 x 11.51 cm) Classification: Ceramics-Vessel Credit Line: Gift of Sheldon and Barbara Breitbart, 1984 Accession Number: 1984.453.4 Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/ancien...