A Leonine Figure of the Protoliterate Period of Mesopotamia

Abstract

TXERE IS AT PRESENT in the Brooklyn Museum, on loan from the Guennol Collection of Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Martin, a unique and remarkable esample of Ancient Near Eastern sculpture. Perhaps the most striking feature of this sculpture (figs. 1-4) is the impression of monumental power which it conveys. When seen in the original, the figure seems to fill the entire field of mental vision; even in photographs it gives the illusion of considerable size. Yet it is very small, the height being only 8.4 centimeters, the span of the extended elbows only 6.2 centimeters. The material, probably magnesite, is ivory-white and the smooth surface is almost luminous. The figure represents a lioness 1 standing in upright human posture with her paws locked in front of her breast in a gesture recalling the clasped hands so often found in Mesopotamian statutes of human beings.2 From the heavy neck emerges the majestic leonine head which is turned sideways to rest on the left shoulder. Only a shallow ridge separates the neck from back and shoulders so that there is the least possible interruption of the nearly triangular outline formed by the head and thoras. The lower part of the body is turned at right angles from the thoras so that the legs and abdomen face in the same direction as the head. The accentuated abdomen balances the strong backward curve of the haunches. The legs are cut ofE above the knee and the stumps are smoothed ofE. One stump bears a dowel hole suggesting that the lower legs were made separately, perhaps of a different material. The view of the back (fig. 2) shows two holes on the neck and four at the base of the spine, meant for the attachment of a mane and tail respectively. Two thick coils, descending from the shoulders and meeting in a volute-like design are raised on the back.