CIRCA LATE 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.

Details

AN ANATOLIAN MARBLE TWO-HEADED IDOL
CIRCA LATE 3RD MILLENNIUM B.C.
The disk-shaped body embellished on one side with ornament, composed of rows of dotted circles divided by undulating ribbon, forming a broad V at the top with radiating sections below, the top of an inverted triangle at the lower end, indicating the pudendum, vertical lines at the base of the long necks, surmounted by two joined triangular heads, each with circular eyes under M-shaped brows merging with a wide nose
4¾ in. (12.1 cm.) high

Provenance

with Frederick Schultz Ancient Art, New York, 1994 (Mesopotamia: In the First Days, no. 19).

Lot Essay

The form of the schematic idol with disk-shaped body, long neck and head or heads is found in various sizes and forms in western and central Anatolia. The presence of the pubic triangle indicates that this type is meant to be seen as feminine. For an almost identical example, from Kültepe, now in the Anatolian Civilizations Museum, Ankara, see no. 43 in Art Treasures of Turkey. Goodarzi informs (pp. 274-275 in Aruz, ed., Art of the First Cities, The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus) that the carved decoration "may represent jewelry, organs, or appendages." She later suggests that the use and context may be "fertility, cult, or votive", noting that, "the overall shape is extremely phallic, giving the statuette an almost androgynous quality, which may be associated with fertility."

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