The use of color on early Mesopotamian sculpture

Researchers using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy have discovered ancient Mesopotamian art, like classical art of Greece and Rome, was often brightly colored although studies have shown the number of colors used appears to be limited to shades of red and black.  

"Red pigments consist almost entirely of haematite, black is either bitumen or a carbonized product. White is almost non-existent (white lead, gypsum), apart from rare cases where it is used as color lightener for the skin. We did not find either blue or green. It is difficult to judge whether this lack reflects an ancient reality or not. On statues, as well as in most wall paintings, pigments were hardly ever mixed. This seems to be a conscious choice, as mixing pigments is not technically difficult." - Astrid Nunn, Adjunct Professor for Near Eastern Archaeology (retired) at the University of Würzburg.

However, scholars noted distinct shifts in color intensity over time.  Skin color in the third millennium was depicted as orange, yellowish brown, red brown, and brown but in the second millennium, there was a general change to bright red and red brown.  By the first millennium, skin color became notably darkened.

Reading this, I couldn't help but wonder about any correlation between changes in skin tone depictions and recorded migrations and conquests by different groups.  However, Professor Nunn does not mention any studies of that nature.  However, she does point out that skin color was derived from a combination of realism mixed with artistic conventions and social determinants, which in turn are subject to symbolic meaning.

This is further complicated by the ancients descriptions of color including textures and other characteristics.

"Taking the materiality of colors (and not simply their hue and chroma) as a starting point enables us to understand why ancient terms that are translated as dazzling, shining, lustrous, brilliant and translucent, or, inversely, dark, poorly lit, dim and dull, must be considered a – positive or negative – color category," Nunn observes. "In Akkadian literature, red on the body, especially on the face, was very positive...However, in Sumerian and Akkadian texts, gods (in particular the sun god Utu), heroes and kings sport beards referred to as lapis lazuli. Thus these words also mean bright and shiny. Despite the reference to lapis lazuli (blue) being conceivable, the shininess of the beard was just as important as its hue."

Of course I have seen objects such as the bull-headed lyres recovered from the royal cemetery of Ur, dated to 2550-2450 CE, with beards literally made of lapis lazuli so describing beards in this way could have been quite precise if the statues of the gods were thought to represent the gods themselves.

Surprisingly, researchers found that even sculpture crafted of expensive, imported stone like diorite was often painted over, despite the lustrous beauty of the stone itself.

Read more about it:  https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2021/05/mesopotamian-sculpture 

 

Millenium, Gypsum, that I photographed at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia

Reconstructed color on the statue of a man with similar garment now in the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, courtesy of Astrid Nunn.

Bull-headed lyre recovered from the royal cemetery of Ur, Iraq, 2550-2450 BCE, Gold, with Lapis Lazuli beard that I photographed at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia

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Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins exhibit now open at the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California

The Getty Villa has reopened and is now hosting the special exhibit "Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins."  Some of the objects are from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.  Others are on loan from The Louvre and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Ancient Mesopotamia, centered in present-day Iraq, occupies a unique place in the history of human culture. It is there, around 3400–3000 BC, that all the key elements of urban civilization first appear in one place: cities with monumental infrastructure and official bureaucracies overseeing agricultural, economic, and religious activities; the earliest known system of writing; and sophisticated architecture, arts, and technologies. For some three thousand years, Mesopotamia remained the preeminent force in the Near East. In 539 BC, however, Cyrus the Great captured Babylon and incorporated Mesopotamia into the Persian Empire. Periods of Greek and Parthian rule followed, and by about AD 100 Mesopotamian culture had effectively come to an end. 

Closeup of a Head of Prince Gudea, Ruler of Lagash, Neo-Sumerian 2120 BCE, Diorite, that I photographed at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in Santa Barbara, California. The sculpture of this prince at the Getty exhibit is from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Elamite Head of a Ruler Iran (?) 2300-2000 BCE Arsenical copper that I photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The headdress seems related to Elamite works of southwestern Iran and resembles another bronze head of the late third millennium BCE found at Nineveh.

Although you will see a statuette of a Neo-Sumerian human-headed bull dated 2150-2000 BCE from The Louvre at the exhibit, this is an image I took of a very similar sculpture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is identified as Kursarikku associated with the sun god Shamash Reign of Ur-Ningirsu of Lagash 2150-2100 BCE, crafted of Serpentine. This serptentine (lizardite) sculpture is from southern Mesopotamia, probably Tello (ancient Girsu). The inscription proclaims the sculpture is dedicated to the goddess Nanshe for the life of the Sumerian ruler Ur-Ningirsu.

Statuette of the Demon Panzuzu, Neo-Assyrian, 934-610 BCE Bronze now in the collections of The Louvre, image courtesy of the museum

Plaque with King Gilgamesh killing the monster Humbaba, Amorite, 2000 - 1600 BCE, terracotta, now in the collections of the Louvre, image courtesy of the museum

Statuette of a dog dedicated to the goddess Ninisina, Amorite, 1894-1866 BCE, steatite, now in the collections of The Louvre, image courtesy of the museum.

Wall fragment with a man's head, Neo-Assyrian 850-650 BCE now in the collections of The Louvre, image courtesy of the museum.

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Part of an Urartian throne with deity on a bull, ca. late 8th–7th century B.C.E.

Assyrian inscriptions of Shalmaneser I (c. 1274 BCE) first mention Uruartri as one of the states of Nairi, a loose confederation of small kingdoms and tribal states in the Armenian Highlands in the thirteenth to eleventh centuries BCE which he conquered. It extended from northeastern Turkey into northwestern Iran with its cultural center around Lake Van. Its settlements were palace-fortresses that protected agricultural production and supported many crafts, especially an extensive metalworking industry. 

The Nairi states were repeatedly subjected to further attacks and invasions by the Middle and Neo-Assyrian Empires.  But Urartu, united under King Arame (860-843 BCE),  reemerged in Assyrian language inscriptions in the ninth century BCE as a powerful northern rival to the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Urartologist Paul Zimansky speculated the Urartian ruling class were few in number and governed over an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse population. This diversity may have extended to the royal line themselves who may have come from various ethnic backgrounds.

Although the Urartian capital was captured by the Assyrians during the reign of Shalmaneser III, Assyria fell into a period of temporary stagnation for decades during the first half of the 8th century BCE, which aided Urartu's growth.  During sporadic periods of peace with Assyria, it is thought Urartu traded cattle, horses, iron, and wine. From cuneiform sources, it is known that in Urartu grew wheat, barley, sesame, millet, and emmer, and cultivated gardens and vineyards. Many regions of the Urartu state required artificial irrigation, which was organized by its rulers. 

The art of Urartu is especially notable for fine lost-wax bronze objects: weapons, figurines, vessels including grand cauldrons that were used for sacrifices, fittings for furniture, and helmets. There are also remains of ivory and bone carvings, frescos, cylinder seals and of course pottery.  Unfortunately, archaeology has produced relatively few examples of the jewelry made of precious metals that the Assyrians boasted of carrying off in great quantities from the Urartian city of Musasir in 714 BCE during the campaigns of Sargon II.  

During this time the Urartian kingdom also suffered heavily from Cimmerian raids as well. but Urartu made peace with Assyria in 705 BCE when Sennacherib ascended the throne and Urartu  entered a long period of development and prosperity.  But when Cimmerians and Scythians resumed their attacks, Urartu became dependent on Assyria, like a vassal state. Inscriptions reveal  Urartu's king Sarduri III (645-635 BCE) referred to Assyrian king Ashurbanipal as his "father"  at this point.

Late during the 7th century BCE, Urartu was once again invaded by Scythians, this time accompanied by their allies—the Medes. In 612 BCE, the Median king Cyaxares the Great together with Nabopolassar of Babylon and the Scythians conquered Assyria after it had been irreversibly weakened by civil war. The Medes then took over the Urartian capital of Van in 590 BCE, effectively ending the sovereignty of Urartu.

Image: Part of a throne with deity on a bull, ca. late 8th–7th century B.C.E., Urartian, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This fragment, 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.

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The Stag God of the ancient Near East

From Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt in the south to Thrace, Anatolia, and the Caucasus in the north, and from regions as far west as mainland Greece all the way east to Iran, the great royal houses forged intense international relationships through the exchange of traded raw materials and goods as well as letters and diplomatic gifts during the Second Millennium BCE. This unprecedented movement of precious materials, luxury goods, and people resulted in a total transformation of the visual arts throughout a vast territory that spanned the ancient Near East and the eastern Mediterranean.  Cult scenes or religious processions are commonly represented in the art of this period.

Hittite texts mention that animal-shaped vessels made of gold, silver, stone, and wood, in the appropriate animal form, were given to the gods for their own use. One such god, worshiped in animal form, was the stag god.  It is thought that the ‘Stag God’ originated in the steppes and was brought to Anatolia by the early Indo-Iranian peoples who left their Kurgan burials at Trialeti and elsewhere in the region and mixed with the Hurrian and other peoples as far as northern Anatolia. Although this vessel is a few centuries older than the Neo-Hittite era, its stag god was probably the basis for Karhuhas (or Kurhunta), thought to have been a fertility deity or protector of nature, later worshiped during the Neo-Hittite period. The stag has even been found as tattoos on the so-called ‘ice princess’ in the Altai Mountains. Here at the eastern extremity of the IE steppe culture zone, her frozen body was recovered with Scythian style stags still plainly visible on her skin.  

"This silver drinking vessel in the form of a stag was hammered from one piece that was joined to the head by a checkerboard-patterned ring. Both the horns and the handle were attached separately. A frieze depicting a religious ceremony decorates the rim of the cup, suggesting the uses for which the cup was intended. A prominent figure, thought to be a goddess, sits on a cross-legged stool, holding a bird of prey in her left hand and a small cup in her right. She wears a conical crown and has large ears, typical of Hittite art. A mushroom-shaped incense burner separates her from a male god who stands on the back of a stag. He, too, holds a falcon in his left hand, while with his right he grasps a small curved staff. Three men are shown in profile, moving to the left and facing the deities. Each holds an offering to the divinities. Behind the men is a tree or plant against which rests the collapsed figure of a stag. Hanging from the tree is a quiver with arrows and an object that appears to be a bag. Two vertical spears complete the frieze and separate the stag from the goddess. Spears were venerated objects, so it is possible that the stag was killed in a hunt, as suggested by the quiver and bag". - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Images: Stag vessel, Anatolia, Hittite Empire, 14th–13th century B.C.E. at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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Egyptian God Anubis Sails Into London

I see London is welcoming the latest King Tut exhibit in grand style. I saw the exhibit when it was in Los Angeles and found several of the items displayed particularly interesting, especially one of King Tut's diadems and one of his ceremonial daggers. I must admit, however, to being a bit disappointed as the exhibit was advertised as being roughly equivalent to the first King Tut exhibit in the US back in the 1960s. However, this exhibit was composed mostly of artifacts belonging to the pharaoh's extended family and few items actually came from the famous tomb. I thought it was particularly misleading to advertise the exhibit with huge images of the famous gold death mask when the mask is not part of the exhibit. Oh well, maybe someday I'll get to see the original in the Cairo Museum.

"Londoners welcomed a 25ft Egyptian god to the capital today. Passers-by watched the extraordinary sight of the enormous, five-tonne
golden Anubis statue travelling up the Thames on the back of a cargo ship.

Tower Bridge was raised to make way for the ancient Egyptian jackal-headed God of the Dead as it was transported to its new position in Trafalgar Square.

The statue travelled from the US, where a three-year touring exhibition of Tutankhamun's treasures has recently closed. The Anubis installation in central London marks the forthcoming opening of Tutankhamun And The Golden Age Of The Pharaohs at the O2 Bubble, the first
exhibition to be held at the venue.

Some 265,000 tickets have already been sold or reserved. The exhibition, which will include more than 130 treasures that are all between 3,000 and 5,000 years old, opens on November 15 and continues until August 30, 2008."

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