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A Winged Goddess of Wine on an Electrum Plaque

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2013

R. D. Barnett
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Extract

In 1968 the Bezalel National Museum of Jerusalem, Israel — now incorporated into the Israel Museum — acquired a small but splendid and significant piece of ancient jewellery. As it came from the art-market in New York, it is thus unfortunately without provenance. I now publish it by kind permission of the Chief Curator of Archaeology, Mrs. Miriam Tadmor, and the Curator of the Department of Neighbouring Cultures, Mrs. Rivka Merhav.

Here is, first, the technical description of the piece.

A figure representing a goddess, nude, four-winged and facing frontally is holding in each hand a bunch of grapes. She is raised in relief from the background of an almost square electrum plaque, framed by a plaited wire border set between plain wire on each side. The frame is decorated on each of its four sides with large globules, numbering eight in all, surrounded by granulation. The goddess formerly had long hair falling in two locks of coiled wire one each side of her face (one of these — that on the right, which showed signs of being melted, has been lost before the object first appeared on the market, presumably in antiquity (Plates VIII, IXa)).

Type
Research Article
Information
Anatolian Studies , Volume 30 , December 1980 , pp. 169 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute at Ankara 1980

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References

1 Israel Museum, Department of Neighbouring Cultures, 70.86.170. Size: 6·6 cm. (2¼″) high × 7·2 cm. broad. Weight 48·4 gr. Bought in New York. Gift of Mr Sydney Lamon.

2 A spectographic analysis, made by Professor S. M. Alexander (Conservation Centre, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University) showed the composition of the metal to be as follows (over 3 samples)

S = Strong; M = Medium; W = Weak; ND = Not determined; VS = Very strong.

3 Report by Dr Robert Brill, of Corning Museum of Glass, from which he kindly permits to make the above quotation.

4 Pactolus/Lydian electrum: Excavations of the refineries of Croesus: Hanfmann, G. M. A., From Croesus to Constantine (Ann Arbor 1975), pp. 5–6Google Scholar.

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7 Electrum was used in Sumer in the Early Dynastic Periods, e.g., for the gold helmet of Mes-Kalam-Shar from Ur, Maxwell-Hyslop, R., Western Asiatic Jewellery (London 1971), pl. XIVGoogle Scholar. Eleven ingots of it were found by Schliemann in Troy II (c. 2200 B.C. ) in Treasure I (Maxwell-Hyslop, op. cit., p. 55). For its use in Egypt, see Wilkinson, Alex, Ancient Egyptian Jewellery (London 1971), Index p. 264Google Scholar, s.v.

8 Gold ring from grave of Pu-abi at Ur (Maxwell-Hyslop, op. cit., pp. 36–7). At Byblos, ibid., pp. 102–4 and fig. 75. Dunand, M., Fouilles de Byblos, II, pl. CXXXIIGoogle Scholar.

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31 Penzer, N. M., The Harem (London 1936), p. 164, n. 2Google Scholar, commenting on Bassano's report (1564) on the girls of the Sultan's Harem, some of whom “make their [two] eyebrows look like one by painting the space between, which (in my opinion) is very unsightly”.

32 “The meeting of the eyebrows, while considered beautiful in some countries, is not liked among the Hindus; and in Iceland, Denmark, Germany, Greece, and Bohemia is considered a sign of a vampire.” Penzer, op. cit., ibid.

33 Higgins, R. A., Catalogue of Terracottas in the British Museum, II (London), fig. 1601, pl. IGoogle Scholar.

34 Özgüç, T., Kültepe-Kaniş (Ankara 1959), pl. XXIV, 2Google Scholar; idem, Belleten, XVIII, 71 (1954), pp. 385–87; Hirmer, M. and Akurgal, E., The Art of the Hittites (London 1962), fig. 36Google Scholar.

35 Barnett, op. cit., pls. LXX–LXXVI.

36 H. Frankfort, Art and Architecture of the Ancient Orient (Harmondsworth 1954), pl. 56.

37 In Mesopotamia, armlets can be traced back to the Sargonid period (Maxwell-Hyslop, op. cit., p. 22); worn by a goddess in a fresco from Mari, ibid., fig. 56; in Palestine at Tell el Ajjul, ibid., p. 123. In Assyria lion-headed armlets are worn by King Ashurbanipal. In Egypt they are common, but are shaped as a broad band.

38 Emre, Kutlu, Anadolu Kurşun Figürinleri ve taş Kalıpları (Anatolian Lead Figurines and their Stones Moulds) (Ankara 1971)Google Scholar.

39 Kutlu Emre, op. cit., p. 146.

40 Porada, E., “Die Siegelzylinder-Abrollung auf der Amarna-Tafel B.M. 29841 im Britischen Museum”; AFO. XXV (1974/1977)Google Scholar. She remarks on the variation between winged and unwinged types of the nude goddess. “Mir scheint, dass diese Unterschiede oft verwischt werden und dass die Bedeutungsforschung mit gewissen ikonographischen ‘Ungenauigkeiten’ wird rechnen müssen.” For a valuable survey of the subject of the nude goddess, see Orthmann, W., Untersuchungen zur späthettitischen Kunst (Bonn 1971), pp. 279–85Google Scholar: “die nackte Göttin.”

41 Orthmann, W., Die Alte Orient: Propyläen Kunstgeschichte 14 (Berlin 1975), fig. 270aGoogle Scholar.

42 Leclant, J., “Astarté à cheval, d'après les représentations égyptiennes”, Syria XXXVII (1960)Google Scholar. On the nude goddess with reversed animals on horse harness and variations of the theme, see W. Orthmann, Untersuchungen, loc. cit.

44 Karagheorghis, V., Excavations in the necropolis of Salamis, III (Haarlem 1974), pl. CCLXXIIGoogle Scholar (reproduced by kind permission of Dr Karagheorghis) and pp. 83–4. The goddess stands here under a winged head of Hathor. The latter probably represents the Sun goddess Shapash, and is encountered again on the famous Palestrina bowl with scenes illustrating the epic adventures of a prince: Ganneau, C. Clermont, L'Imagerie phénicienne (1880Google Scholar); Perrot, and Chipiez, , Histoire de l'art dans l'antiquité III, (1884), fig. 543Google Scholar.

45 See above, note 30.

46 Orthman, Alte Orient, pl. XIV.

47 A similar figure is depicted on a clay plaque from Alalakh, found in Level III (14th century). Woolley, C. L., Alalakh, p. 247, pl. LIV, oGoogle Scholar; Barrelet, M., Syria XXXV (1958), p. 42, fig. 9Google Scholar.

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49 Woolley, C. L., Alalakh (London 1955), p. 81 and pl. LXIXIGoogle Scholar.

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51 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library; reprod. Seibert, Ilse, Die Frau im alten Orient (Leipzig 1973), pl. 39aGoogle Scholar.

52 von Haller, A., Gräber und Grüfte von Assur (1954), fig. 164aGoogle Scholar.

53 W. Orthmann, Alte Orient, fig. 263a.

54 Ravn, O., “Die Reliefs der assyrischen Königen”, A.f.O. XVI (1952/1953), p. 240Google Scholar.

55 Parrot, A., Nineveh and Babylon (1961) p. 258, fig. 330Google Scholar, Mallowan, M., “The excavations at Nimrud (Kalhu) 1953”, Iraq 16 (1954), p. 152, pl. XXXGoogle Scholar.

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57 Hogarth, D. G., Carchemish I (London 1914), pl. A. IGoogle Scholar; Barnett, and Woolley, , Carchemish III (London 1952), pl. B. 40Google Scholar.

58 On the identification of the several symbols of the gods including the 4-pointed and six-pointed star symbols, see Barnett, , “The Gods of Zincirli”, Compte-Rendu de l'onzième rencontre assyriologique internationale (Leiden 1964), pp. 58–88, esp pp. 73–80Google Scholar.

59 Porada, E., The Art of Ancient Iran (Baden-Baden 1965), figs. 63–4Google Scholar. Seibert, op. cit., fig. on p. 43.

60 Virgil, , Aeneid IV. 5Google Scholar.

61 Ishtar is frequently depicted on Assyrian cylinder seals surrounded by a circle of stars.

62 Jeremiah 7, 18; 44, 17.

63 Cf. illustrations of her surrounded with stars on the “Pantheon bowl” from Nimrud, Barnett, , “The Nimrud ivories and the art of the Phoenicians”, Iraq II (1953), fig. 7Google Scholar.

64 M. Mallowan and G. Herrmann, op. cit., pls. II, LXXXII.

65 Ezekiel, I, 11.

66 Noticeable on the doorway-figures of the Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nimrud, now in the British Museum.

67 Curtis, , Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome III (1919), pl. 56Google Scholar; so too on figure of winged goat on bronze stand from the Tomba Bernardini, ibid., V (1925), pl. 28; also in Herrmann, H. V., Olympische Forschungen VI: Die Kessel der orientalisierenden Zeit (Berlin 1966), pls. 74, 75Google Scholar.

68 Frankfort, , Cylinder-Seals (London 1939), pp. 157–8Google Scholar.

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72 Grace, V., “The Canaanite Jar”, in Aegean and the Near East: Studies presented to Hetty Goldman (New York 1956Google Scholar). Wilson, J. Kinneir, The Nimrud Wine Lists (London 1972Google Scholar).

73 Pritchard, J. B., “New Evidence of the Role of the Sea People in Canaan”, in Ward, W. (ed.), The role of the Phoenicians in the Interaction of Mediterranean Civilizations (Beirut 1968)Google Scholar; Barnett, , “The Nimrud Bowls in the British Museum”, Rivista di Studi Fenici II (1974), pp. 30–31Google Scholar. Pritchard associated the introduction of this fashion with the coming of the “Sea-Peoples”.

74 The industry is proved by the common Judaean jar handles stamped with royal inscriptions, large numbers of which have now been found in excavations at Lachish.

75 Wild grape-pips were found at Korucutepe, Boessneck, J. and von der Driesch, A., “The Excavations at Korucutepe …”, J.N.E.S. 33 (1974), p. 114Google Scholar.

76 Özgüç, T., Kültepe Kazisi Raporu 1948 (Ankara 1950), pl. LXVIII, 447Google Scholar; Kültepe Kazisi Raporu 1949 (Ankara 1953), pl. LV, fig. 520Google Scholar.

77 M. Hirmer and E. Akurgal, op. cit. (London 1962), pl. 139; [Anon.] Catalogue, Kunst und Kultur der Hethiter (Zürich 1961), pl. 177Google Scholar. However, Orthmann, , Alte Orient, p. 431Google Scholar, believes that this is a pair of funerary figures, adding that these attributes (grapes and mirror) are “often” met on stelae from Maraş, and that the bunch of grapes “may be seen as a symbol of life that has found its way into the cult of the dead”. In fact, the grapes are shown held only on two other stelae (Orthmann, Untersuchungen, Maraş, B/10 (by a standing male) and C/4 (by a seated female) ibid., pls. 45, 46). These stelae from Maraş, are no doubt funerary in purpose, but the human figures are in some way partly divinised; and the present sculpture in very high relief, almost in the round, is clearly more than a mere gravestone.

78 Littmann, Enno, Sardis VI: Lydian Inscriptions (Leyden 1916), p. 43Google Scholar.

79 Apollodorus, iii, 4. 3 i Apollonius Rhodius, iv. 1137. Graves, R., The Greek Myths (Penguin 1975), vol. 1, p. 56Google Scholar.