EARLY DYNASTIC IIIB, CIRCA 2400-2250 B.C.

Details

A MESOPOTAMIAN IVORY STANDING NUDE FEMALE FIGURE
Early Dynastic IIIB, Circa 2400-2250 B.C.
The sensuously modelled figure with stylized and exaggerated features, the oval face with originally-inlaid eyes and brows, long projecting nose and thinly grooved mouth curving into a slight smile, the large ears curving outward, the now-missing hair/headdress once attached by dowels, the flat body with womanly proportions, the shoulders narrow, her thin arms bent acutely, the hands cupping the small round breasts, her trunk quite narrow, curving sharply to the broad hips, the pubic triangle recessed and once inlaid, the rounded legs held closely together and tapering dramatically, a vertical groove between, the feet missing, the reverse with a vertical groove between the legs and the buttocks, a horizontal groove defining the lower edge of the buttocks, two 'dimples' above
4 5/8 in. (11.8 cm.) high

Provenance

European Private Collection, acquired in the late 1980s.

Special notice

Notice Regarding the Sale of Material from Endangered Species. Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country

Lot Essay

This ivory figure finds its closest parallels in a bronze figure and an ivory figure from the "Treasure of Ur" found in Mari and now in the National Museum in Damascus, Syria. See nos. 82-83, p. 142 in Aruz, ed., Art of the First Cities, The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus. See also an ivory figure in the Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem, no. 196, pl. XII and pp. 227-229 in Muscarella, ed., Ladders to Heaven, Art Treasures from Lands of the Bible. According to Muscarella (op. cit., p. 228), female figures of similar proportion, composition and stylization from the mid 3rd millennium have been found throughout the Near East, as far north as Anatolia and as far south as Palestine. He compares these with the female figures in marble manufactured in the Aegean in the same era.

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