Head of a ruler
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The identity of this lifesize head and where it was created remain a mystery. The expert craftsmanship and innovative technology involved in shaping it and casting it in copper alloy, a very costly material, indicates that it represents a king or elite person. The nose, lips, large ears, heavy-lidded eyes, and modeling of the face are rendered in a naturalistic style. The dark, empty spaces of the eyes were probably originally inlaid with contrasting materials. Patterns in the elegantly coiffed beard and well-trimmed mustache and the curving and diagonal lines of the figure’s cloth turban can still be seen beneath the corroded copper surface. These aspects of personal appearance further support the identification of this image with an elite personage. Furthermore, the head’s unusually individualized features suggest that it might be a portrait. Were that to be true, the head would be a rare example of portraiture in ancient Near Eastern art. Recent examination has revealed that the head, long thought to be virtually solid, originally contained a clay core held in place by metal supports. It may be among the earliest known examples of lifesize hollow casting in the lost-wax method. A plate across the neck incorporates a square peg originally set into a body or other mount, which may have been made of a different material. Adapted from, Art of the Ancient Near East: A Resource for Educators (2010)
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.