Description:

Ancient Near East, Syria, ca. 2nd millennium BCE. A bone carved into a cylindrical anthropomorphic figure with a huge head, a slight indentation for a neck, and four incised grooves around the body that suggest limbs. A big-eyed face with surprisingly realistic nose and mouth is on one side; below it, in the top of the chest, a wide hole has been drilled through the body, perhaps for sewing this item onto clothing, affixing it to a wall or altar, or carrying it on a string. Size: 1.4" L x 0.35" W (3.6 cm x 0.9 cm)

Ancient idols like this one, that reduce the human figure to a simple collection of shapes and lines, are considered some of our oldest abstract art. They fascinate us today in part because they hint at a belief system and cosmology that we can no longer access or understand. Instead, scholars contintue to pursue educated guesses about their meaning - Are they fertility charms? Representations of old gods? Were they made to be carried as apotropaic charms, or simply to be placed in tombs? Their mute figures raise more questions than they answer.

Provenance: Ex- California Museum of Ancient Art, Abu Taam collection, 1985

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#120957

  • Condition: Slight patina from touch.

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July 11, 2017 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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