Miniature corbel in the shape of a hand
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The interiors of Assyrian palaces were richly decorated, with reliefs on the stone slabs lining the thick mud brick walls, giant standing statues representing mythological figures as gatekeepers, and colored glazed tiles and painted decorative motifs running along the walls above the stone reliefs. Also found in the palace rooms were intriguing clay objects in the shape of hands. Assyrian clay hands were first discovered in the mid-nineteenth century by British and French archaeologists in the remains of palaces and temples of major Assyrian cities in northern Iraq. These architectural devices were mainly employed in the Assyrian capitals of Ashur, Nimrud, Khorsabad, and Nineveh, but similar objects were also excavated at Zincirli, capital of the Aramaean kingdom of Samal in north-western Syria. This object represents a hand in the shape of a clenched fist, with five distinct fingers and fingernails carefully outlined. The fingers are rendered identically, with no special indication of a thumb. Behind the fingers, the object is broken in the section which was left rough and would have functioned as a shank to be inserted into the wall. The fingers and fist were covered with black bitumen, traces of which can still be seen. On the fingers a cuneiform inscription is impressed: Palace of Ashurnasirpal, great king, mighty king, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Tukulti-Ninurta, king of the world, king of Assyria, son of Adad-Nirari, also king of the world, king of Assyria Property of the city of Kalhu [Frame 1991] Clay hands were part of the rich decoration of Assyrian royal buildings, as they were inserted into the mortar of the mudbrick walls with the clenched fist protruding out of the wall surface. Although their exact function remains unresolved for modern scholars, they were likely employed as decorative architectural corbels, probably in connection with window ledges or timber roof beams. A few bronze sheathing exemplars similar to the clay ones have also been found in Nimrud and Nineveh. These probably covered an underlying wooden structure, such as the end of a roof beam. The shape of the hand may have been connected with an apotropaic meaning and served to protect the space of the palace from evil spirits, while also embodying the power of the king as the builder of the mighty royal palace
Ancient Near Eastern Art
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met's Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art cares for approximately 7,000 works ranging in date from the eighth millennium B.C. through the centuries just beyond the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. Objects in the collection were created by people in the area that today comprises Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Yemen, and Central Asia. From the art of some of the world's first cities to that of great empires, the department's holdings illustrate the beauty and craftsmanship as well as the profound interconnections, cultural and religious diversity, and lasting legacies that characterize the ancient art of this vast region.