SculptureSyrian18th century BCE

Anthropomorphic female figurine fragment: head

1900-1800 BCE

Description

This head is a fragment of a handmade terracotta figurine. Above the face is a flat-ish rectangular headdress or coiffure. It is perforated with circular holes at left and right; the hole on the proper right is higher than that of the proper left. On the upper proper left portion of the headdress or coiffure, the surface is shorn off. A long tab runs from the front of the headdress (between the holes) along the top of the nose; it bears an indention made with a pointed, circular tool in the front where it joins the nose. The nose is narrow and tall with a rectangular profile. It gives the nose a “beak-like” appearance, the basis of the common “bird-like” descriptor given to the face of figurines like this. On either side of the nose, large round eyes are formed of applied circular pellets, which are also indented at center with a pointed circular tool. The face is framed with a small, semicircular projecting flange, each perforated. These are either part of the same headdress or coiffure or represent ears. No mouth is indicated. Below the face, the neck (oval-shaped in section) is broken (or cut) off cleanly. The back of the head is flat. Clay fabric: Munsell 7.5YR 7/3 pink. Occasional medium to large angular (irregular) white, grey, and black grits and rare medium round voids.

Classification

Sculpture

Technique

Handmade

Medium

Terracotta

Culture

Syrian

Period

Bronze Age, Middle

Century

18th century BCE

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics

Dimensions

H. 4.3 × W. 2.8 × d. 2.2 cm (1 11/16 × 1 1/8 × 7/8 in.)

Provenance

[Asfar Bros., St. George Hotel, Beirut, Lebanon (by 1964)], purchase; by Nanette B Kelekian, New York (1964-2021), bequest; to the Harvard Art Museums.