Shell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plants

Shell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plants

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The shell of a species of large clam (Tridacna squamosa), native to the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, was used to carve a distinctive type of cosmetic container during a short period from the late seventh to the early sixth century B.C. More than a hundred containers of this type survive, and have been found throughout the Near East and Mediterranean, as far east as Iran and as far west as Italy. Unworked shells have been found in Palestine and Transjordan, suggesting that the workshops where these containers were manufactured were located in these regions. This remarkably preserved shell bears elaborate incised decoration on the outer surface. A four-winged figure wearing an intricate embroidered or woven garment holds floral branches in both hands, and lotus flowers and buds sprout from her shoulders. Two small winged sphinxes flank her, each surrounded by more branches which sprout buds, blossoms, and palmettes. Decorative patterning covers much of the surface, including the wings of the central figure and the sphinxes, their cross-hatched hairstyles, the stems of the branches, and a border that runs along the bottom of the scene. On the inner surface of the shell, a border of triangles and another row of blossoms and buds has been incised around the edge. A hole pierces the shell at the chest of the central figure.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Shell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plantsShell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plantsShell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plantsShell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plantsShell engraved with winged female deity, sphinxes, and lotus plants

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.