Lower half of a human head in the round

Lower half of a human head in the round

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Excavations at Hasanlu in Iran yielded a large number of carved ivory fragments which probably decorated wooden furniture or were used as small precious objects such as boxes. The citadel at Hasanlu was attacked and destroyed around 800 B.C., most likely by military forces of the powerful state of Urartu, centered in present-day Armenia, eastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran. In the fire that destroyed the citadel, many objects were crushed and shattered. The blackened appearance of most of the Hasanlu ivories is due to their exposure to high temperatures at the time of the citadel’s destruction. This head carved in the round is broken just below the eyes and missing its nose, but the sculptor’s skill is evident in the sensitive modeling of the high cheekbones, prominent cleft chin, and the full mouth with its slightly projecting upper lip. The eye sockets were hollowed out to receive inlays, now missing. The back is also broken away, leaving no clear trace of how the head was attached to another element. Its smooth, beardless face and slender neck suggest it depicts a female figure.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lower half of a human head in the roundLower half of a human head in the roundLower half of a human head in the roundLower half of a human head in the roundLower half of a human head in the round

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.