It were indeed paradoxical if the Babylonian artists had not invoked the
aid of the clay, which they employed so readily and extensively not only
in their building operations but also for all ordinary writing purposes,
in their attempts to represent human and animal life. Undoubtedly this
material was not employed for these purposes so frequently as might have
been expected, but this is probably due to the comparative fragility of
this substance and its consequent inability to withstand the
disintegrating effects of time and climate; as most of the objects
fashioned by Babylonian artists would appear to be of a votive
character, it is obvious that durability was one of the most important
considerations in their production. Notwithstanding this fact however, a
sufficiently large number of terra-cotta figures, some of which belong
to the earliest periods of Sumerian civilization, have fortunately been
preserved. The most ancient of these terra-cotta models are extremely
small in size and crude in workmanship. We have a very archaic example
in Fig. 85, A. The eyes of this small figure are the most noticeable
features; they consist of flattened balls; the bodies of these primitive
little models are as unfinished as they can be, sometimes being
fashioned merely triangular-wise. In Fig. 85, B, we have another example
of the same type and belonging to the same period, though it shows a
slight advancement on the preceding figure. A thick head-gear or wig,
crowns the head, and in its hands it holds an object of uncertain
character, either a child or an instrument of music according to M.
Heuzey. The clay, though moulded in the hand, is incised with a number
of delicate lines, which are probably due to the application of a sharp
and finely pointed tool. These curious figures are about one and a half
or two inches high.
The next illustration (Fig. 85, C.) transfers us from the early Sumerian
period to that of Gudea. The comparative proficiency attained through
long cultivation of the art is sufficiently obvious. The figure is that
of a god, his head-gear being characteristically furnished with four
pairs of horns, and unlike the copper votive statuettes of Gudea the god
here has bull’s ears. The upper part of the body is left bare, but the
lower part, which unfortunately is not preserved, was evidently covered
by a garment fastened round the waist by a girdle. The god’s left hand
has hold of a stick or weapon inserted in the girdle, the upper portion
of which is seen in the illustration. As usual, the god wears a heavy
beard represented by a series of vertical streaks, but the arrangement
of his hair in two long tails hanging down over his chest and curled at
the ends, is somewhat peculiar. This little plaque is between two and a
half and three inches in height.
[Illustration: FIG. 85.—A, B (cf. _Déc. en Chald._, Pl. 39; 1, 2). C
(cf. Cat., Fig. 183). D (cf. Cat., Fig. 193; _Déc. en Chald._, p. 252).
(All Musée du Louvre.)]
The Sumerians of early times did not however confine themselves to a
portrayal of single figures in their clay reliefs, but sometimes aspired
to complete scenes; thus in the fragment reproduced in Fig. 85, D, we
see a standing woman; her hands are raised in a devotional manner, and
doubtless were the remainder of this clay relief preserved we should see
her accompanied by her husband, as so frequently on the cylinder-seals.
Her thick, wavy hair hangs plait-wise down her back, and a raised fillet
surrounds her head. The relief in which the woman’s figure is raised is
high, and the workmanship, though crude is not without life. This little
fragment is about five inches high and is made of grey-coloured clay.
Occasionally these terra-cotta figures were painted, as was the case
with the little male statuettes discovered at Babylon in 1910.[140]
Ever faithful in the art of imitation, the Assyrians also turned their
attention to the artistic possibilities inherent in the clay which they
used alike for the construction of their houses and for writing
purposes. Some of the clay figures, or little clay reliefs discovered in
Assyria belong without doubt to Assyrian times, but by far the larger
half of the terra-cotta figures, lamps and other objects discovered are
as certainly post-Assyrian.
[Illustration: FIG. 86.—A, B (Brit. Mus., No. 91837). C, E (Musée du
Louvre). D (Cf. _Mitteilung._, No. 5, Abb. 1).]
Some very interesting terra-cotta figures representing the Fish-god,
Dagan, are preserved in the British Museum (cf. Fig. 86, A, B). These
small images are only a few inches high, but the humanly conceived face
of the god is treated with less conventionalism than is the case with
the sculptured portraits of human beings during the Assyrian period, a
fact which of course may possibly be due to the plasticity of clay as
compared with stone. These little figures are probably Assyrian and not
Babylonian in workmanship; at all events, a fish-god sculptured in
relief was discovered at the entrance to a small Assyrian temple at
Nimrûd, which, apart from other evidence,[141] is a clear indication
that the fish-god was venerated in Assyria as well as in Babylonia. It
would seem reasonable to suppose that the Dagan-cult would naturally
find its origin in the alluvial centres of Sumerian civilization in the
extreme south of Babylonia, where the water was an all-important factor
for good or ill, but according to Jastrow[142] it was imported from the
north to the south, though the name of a king of Isin, Ishme-Dagan, who
reigned about 2200 B.C., shows that the god was known and revered in
Babylonia at least as early as his time. On the other hand it is
equally noteworthy that one of the earliest known Assyrian kings, whose
reign must probably be assigned to the nineteenth century B.C., also
bore that name. These clay images of the gods were usually buried as
amulets in the foundations of buildings. Another terra-cotta image of a
god belonging to the Assyrian period, and the work of an Assyrian
artist, is seen in Fig. 86, C.[143] This little image was found,
together with two other terra-cotta figures, beneath the floor of the
court of Sargon’s palace at Khorsabad. Each had been enclosed in a brick
capsule as a foundation-amulet, where they remained undisturbed until
the spade of Botta brought them once more to light. The figure here
reproduced is that of an Assyrian god, while one of the other two was a
mythical creature, and the third was a demon, but all three must have
been buried for much the same purpose, the god to take care of the
positive welfare of the inmates of the palace, the demon to act
negatively in warding off evil influences, while they all have their
stone counterparts in the bas-reliefs recovered from the ruins of
Assyrian palaces. This little image is eight inches high and is made of
a greyish clay. The god is clothed in a long robe reaching down to his
feet; his head is crowned with a cap encircled by two pairs of horns,
and his beard conforms to the usual Assyrian type.[144]
Various terra-cotta figures of nude women or goddesses have been
recovered from different Babylonian and Assyrian sites, but they are
for the most part not earlier than the Parthian period, and their
consideration does not therefore fall within the scope of the present
volume. There are however exceptions to this generalization, one of the
most remarkable being that of a terra-cotta figure also preserved in the
Louvre and reproduced in Fig. 86, E.[145] This little model is reported
to have been found at Hillah, near Babylon; the place of its discovery
was a Greek grave, but it was found in the company of seals and amulets
belonging to a much earlier period. The woman, in a standing position,
is seen suckling her infant at her breast. The bodies of the mother and
her child both exhibit the characteristic fullness of Eastern art, but
in spite of this fact, there is a delicacy and refinement, as well as an
insight into the charms of human nature such as is seldom seen in the
statues and figures of Oriental antiquity. Various terra-cotta figures
of nude women were also discovered at Nippur in the strata of
Shar-Gâni-sharri and Ur-Engur, while another interesting example of a
nude woman or goddess is seen in Fig. 86, D.[146] This little clay
figure was discovered during the course of the German excavations at
Babylon, a site which has yielded numerous terra-cotta figures of nude
women with and without a child; the lower part of the body does not
apparently belong to the upper part represented here, but is the broken
half of another clay figure; it enables us however to form a better
idea of the general appearance of these terra-cottas when complete. Both
fragments were recovered in the ruins of the temple of the goddess
Nin-Makh, and doubtless formed part of clay miniatures of a stone statue
of the goddess, which unfortunately has not yet been brought to light.
The figure exhibits a certain heaviness, which the thick tresses of hair
only tend to accentuate. The hair itself appears to be carefully waved
and curled; the woman’s hands are clasped below her breasts, while she
wears bracelets on her wrists and anklets on her legs.
During the same excavations an interesting figure of a bearded man, made
of unbaked clay and measuring about six inches high, was found in the
temple of Adar; his left arm is hanging down, and his right arm is
extended and holds what appears to be a staff, while on his head he
wears a Phrygian cap or something akin. A similar clay figure was found
in the Anu-Adad temple, but it differed from the former in being
provided with a golden staff. The figure was enclosed in what is known
as a brick capsule; these capsules were sometimes only a few inches
high, but at other times reached as much as twenty inches. These
capsuled statuettes were generally located before the entrances to
rooms. Sometimes figures of animals as well as of human beings were
similarly enshrined in brick capsules; thus a model of a clay dove
enclosed in this manner was discovered by the German excavators at
Babylon.
[Illustration: FIG. 87. (Brit. Mus.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 88. (Brit. Mus.)]
Among the most interesting of the Assyrian terra-cotta models must be
mentioned those of the favourite hunting-dogs of Ashur-bani-pal (cf.
Fig. 87) found in his palace at Nineveh; these same dogs can however be
so much more readily studied from the stone bas-reliefs of this same
king, that it will be best to forgo any detailed consideration of them
here. Unfortunately it is impossible to speak with any confidence as
regards the date of the vast majority of clay figures yielded by the
excavations in Babylonia and Assyria; they comprise figures of gods and
goddesses, as well as of dogs, lions and other animals. Some of these
are fashioned in the round, others are portrayed in relief upon small
plaques. One of the best preserved of these plaques is reproduced in
Fig. 88. This little clay relief was discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson
at Birs-Nimrûd. A clean-shaven and semi-nude attendant is in charge of a
large hound which he is leading by means of a strap. The attendant, who
is armed with a stick, is more life-like than the attendants on the
bas-reliefs of Ashur-bani-pal, but the dog, though spirited, cannot
compare with those sculptured in hard stone on the palace walls of that
same king. The innumerable terra-cotta lamps which have been excavated
from time to time for the most part belong to a late period, it is
however interesting to note that clay lamps were apparently in use at a
very early period, even as early as the time of Bur-Sin, king of Ur
(_circ._ 2350 B.C.), one of whose clay lamps was discovered at Nippur.
We have already remarked that clay was probably used extensively for
making moulds for casting metal objects, and it is certain that it was
sometimes used by the sculptor as a material for rough sketches (cf. p.
118). The clay figures or statuettes of the earlier period were either
fashioned by hand, or else stamped in a mould, but in either case they
were solid, in contradistinction to the Babylonian terra-cottas of the
later Greek and Roman times which were generally hollow in the interior,
their outside being coated with a kind of paste by means of which the
artist endeavoured to work out the details of hair, clothing, and other
externalities, while they were not infrequently covered with a vitreous
glaze, the colours used being blue and green. But a consideration of
this later work lies beyond the scope of our volume, which is confined
to a consideration of the Babylonian and Assyrian period.