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Some Aspects of Incised Drawing and Mosaic in the Early Dynastic Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

P. R. S. Moorey
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Extract

One of the most distinctive, if comparatively minor, characteristics of craftsmanship in the Early Dynastic period in central and southern Mesopotamia was the prevalence of incised drawing on stone, shell and baked clay. Since much of the work was small scale and often on very friable objects their survival is the more remarkable and clearly reflects a significant aspect of craftsmanship in the Sumerian period which did not survive the establishment of the dynasty of Akkad. In the following pages I have united a number of examples of incised drawing, some previously unpublished, in an attempt to explore further than is usual in the standard works on the history of art in Mesopotamia the scope and significance of this technique during one of the most important periods in the cultural development of the area. I have also included some preliminary observations on the role of incised drawings in the preparation of designs for execution in other media.

Type
Research Article
Information
IRAQ , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , Autumn 1967 , pp. 97 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1967

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References

1 I am most grateful to R. W. Hamilton, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, for permission to publish these objects, to Professor M. E. L. Mallowan for reading a draft of this paper and to Mrs. P. Pogson, who did the drawings.

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73 Ashmolean 1924.717: figure raising a cup.

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88 XK I, pl. XIII—in caption read shell for limestone = AM I, pl. XXXV.I; XK I, pl. XIV.I—upper row; pl. XL—probably not from slate plaque as caption; pl. XLII.

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140 Amiet, no. 1176.

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152 Ibid., pl. 27e.

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154 Heinrich, Fara, pl. 27a, c cf. E. D. van Buren, day Figurines …, no. 1330.

155 Heinrich, Fara, pl. 31m, 33 b, c.

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157 Ibid., pl. 30k.

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