Plaque fragment

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This ivory plaque with a winged, snarling lion is one of several similarly decorated ivory fragments excavated at Hasanlu. The creature's mane is rendered in triangular tufts, while its wing is shown with four feathers emerging from a curved band. A dowel hole at the upper left suggests how such carved plaques were once attached to pieces of furniture or other objects. Although winged lions exist in both Assyrian and northern Syrian art, this example reflects a style of ivory carving found at Hasanlu.

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.

Metropolitan Museum of Art