Seated Statuette
Seated Statuette
Near Eastern Seated Statuette
The figure, whose gender is not clearly defined (the absence of breasts and the low-detailed shapes would rather suggest a male body), is seated on a cubic stool without any carved details. The torso of the figure is straight, the back is smooth and without details; the legs are simple rods in light relief. The arms of the figure are folded and the triangular hands are brought back to the chest.
1st millenium B.C., 2nd millenium B.C.
H: 18.2 cm
In stock
Product Description
Although conveying a certain charm, typical of traditional folk art rather than formal representations, this statuette shows highly stylized and naive shapes which do not totally lighten the strength of the rectangular block of stone.
The figure, whose gender is not clearly defined (the absence of breasts and the low-detailed shapes would rather suggest a male body), is seated on a cubic stool without any carved details. The torso of the figure is straight, the back is smooth and without details; the legs are simple rods in light relief. The arms of the figure are folded and the triangular hands are brought back to the chest.
The head is a cube with rounded angles, without any headgear but with a slight depression on the skull. Only the face shows anatomical features – although in a very simple way -, such as the slightly hollowed eyes, the high cheekbones and the thin, vertical nose that somewhat recalls a long beak.
Typologically, this figure belongs to the series of Near Eastern images representing a faithful worshiper, which were generally offered in sanctuaries and served as perpetual dedications to the deity.
During the second half of the 2nd millennium B.C., the tradition of carving seated statues is well established in the Syro-Anatolian world, with examples as famous as the image of the king Idrimi Alalakh (15th century B.C.), the more plastic and elaborate figure of the god El, at Ugarit, or the possibly later series of the basalt statuettes of Tell Halaf. The style and typology enable us to classify our figure in this category of images.
