Plaque fragment with chariot scenes inscribed with the Urartian royal name Argishti

Plaque fragment with chariot scenes inscribed with the Urartian royal name Argishti

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fragment is decorated with two identical royal or religious processions, a typical stylistic and iconographic representation. What the footmen carry remains unknown. The Urartian cuneiform inscription above the top panel reads: "From the arsenal of Argishti."

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plaque fragment with chariot scenes inscribed with the Urartian royal name ArgishtiPlaque fragment with chariot scenes inscribed with the Urartian royal name ArgishtiPlaque fragment with chariot scenes inscribed with the Urartian royal name ArgishtiPlaque fragment with chariot scenes inscribed with the Urartian royal name ArgishtiPlaque fragment with chariot scenes inscribed with the Urartian royal name Argishti

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.