Fig. 86.—A, B (Brit. Mus., No. 91837). C, E (Musée du Louvre).
D (Cf. Mitteilung., No. 5, Abb. 1).
Some very interesting terra-cotta figures representing the Fish-god, Dagan, are preserved in the British Museum (cf. Fig. [86], A, B). These small images are only a few inches high, but the humanly conceived face of the god is treated with less conventionalism than is the case with the sculptured portraits of human beings during the Assyrian period, a fact which of course may possibly be due to the plasticity of clay as compared with stone. These little figures are probably Assyrian and not Babylonian in workmanship; at all events, a fish-god sculptured in relief was discovered at the entrance to a small Assyrian temple at Nimrûd, which, apart from other evidence,[141] is a clear indication that the fish-god was venerated in Assyria as well as in Babylonia. It would seem reasonable to suppose that the Dagan-cult would naturally find its origin in the alluvial centres of Sumerian civilization in the extreme south of Babylonia, where the water was an all-important factor for good or ill, but according to Jastrow[142] it was imported from the north to the south, though the name of a king of Isin, Ishme-Dagan, who reigned about 2200 B.C., shows that the god was known and revered in Babylonia at least as early as his time. On the other hand it is equally noteworthy that one of the earliest known Assyrian kings, whose reign must probably be assigned to the nineteenth century B.C., also bore that name. These clay images of the gods were usually buried as amulets in the foundations of buildings. Another terra-cotta image of a god belonging to the Assyrian period, and the work of an Assyrian artist, is seen in Fig. [86], C.[143] This little image was found, together with two other terra-cotta figures, beneath the floor of the court of Sargon’s palace at Khorsabad. Each had been enclosed in a brick capsule as a foundation-amulet, where they remained undisturbed until the spade of Botta brought them once more to light. The figure here reproduced is that of an Assyrian god, while one of the other two was a mythical creature, and the third was a demon, but all three must have been buried for much the same purpose, the god to take care of the positive welfare of the inmates of the palace, the demon to act negatively in warding off evil influences, while they all have their stone counterparts in the bas-reliefs recovered from the ruins of Assyrian palaces. This little image is eight inches high and is made of a greyish clay. The god is clothed in a long robe reaching down to his feet; his head is crowned with a cap encircled by two pairs of horns, and his beard conforms to the usual Assyrian type.[144]
Various terra-cotta figures of nude women or goddesses have been recovered from different Babylonian and Assyrian sites, but they are for the most part not earlier than the Parthian period, and their consideration does not therefore fall within the scope of the present volume. There are however exceptions to this generalization, one of the most remarkable being that of a terra-cotta figure also preserved in the Louvre and reproduced in Fig. [86], E.[145] This little model is reported to have been found at Hillah, near Babylon; the place of its discovery was a Greek grave, but it was found in the company of seals and amulets belonging to a much earlier period. The woman, in a standing position, is seen suckling her infant at her breast. The bodies of the mother and her child both exhibit the characteristic fullness of Eastern art, but in spite of this fact, there is a delicacy and refinement, as well as an insight into the charms of human nature such as is seldom seen in the statues and figures of Oriental antiquity. Various terra-cotta figures of nude women were also discovered at Nippur in the strata of Shar-Gâni-sharri and Ur-Engur, while another interesting example of a nude woman or goddess is seen in Fig. [86], D.[146] This little clay figure was discovered during the course of the German excavations at Babylon, a site which has yielded numerous terra-cotta figures of nude women with and without a child; the lower part of the body does not apparently belong to the upper part represented here, but is the broken half of another clay figure; it enables us however to form a better idea of the general appearance of these terra-cottas when complete. Both fragments were recovered in the ruins of the temple of the goddess Nin-Makh, and doubtless formed part of clay miniatures of a stone statue of the goddess, which unfortunately has not yet been brought to light. The figure exhibits a certain heaviness, which the thick tresses of hair only tend to accentuate. The hair itself appears to be carefully waved and curled; the woman’s hands are clasped below her breasts, while she wears bracelets on her wrists and anklets on her legs.
During the same excavations an interesting figure of a bearded man, made of unbaked clay and measuring about six inches high, was found in the temple of Adar; his left arm is hanging down, and his right arm is extended and holds what appears to be a staff, while on his head he wears a Phrygian cap or something akin. A similar clay figure was found in the Anu-Adad temple, but it differed from the former in being provided with a golden staff. The figure was enclosed in what is known as a brick capsule; these capsules were sometimes only a few inches high, but at other times reached as much as twenty inches. These capsuled statuettes were generally located before the entrances to rooms. Sometimes figures of animals as well as of human beings were similarly enshrined in brick capsules; thus a model of a clay dove enclosed in this manner was discovered by the German excavators at Babylon.
| Fig. 87. (Brit. Mus.) | Fig. 88. (Brit. Mus.) |
Among the most interesting of the Assyrian terra-cotta models must be mentioned those of the favourite hunting-dogs of Ashur-bani-pal (cf. Fig. [87]) found in his palace at Nineveh; these same dogs can however be so much more readily studied from the stone bas-reliefs of this same king, that it will be best to forgo any detailed consideration of them here. Unfortunately it is impossible to speak with any confidence as regards the date of the vast majority of clay figures yielded by the excavations in Babylonia and Assyria; they comprise figures of gods and goddesses, as well as of dogs, lions and other animals. Some of these are fashioned in the round, others are portrayed in relief upon small plaques. One of the best preserved of these plaques is reproduced in Fig. [88]. This little clay relief was discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson at Birs-Nimrûd. A clean-shaven and semi-nude attendant is in charge of a large hound which he is leading by means of a strap. The attendant, who is armed with a stick, is more life-like than the attendants on the bas-reliefs of Ashur-bani-pal, but the dog, though spirited, cannot compare with those sculptured in hard stone on the palace walls of that same king. The innumerable terra-cotta lamps which have been excavated from time to time for the most part belong to a late period, it is however interesting to note that clay lamps were apparently in use at a very early period, even as early as the time of Bur-Sin, king of Ur (circ. 2350 B.C.), one of whose clay lamps was discovered at Nippur. We have already remarked that clay was probably used extensively for making moulds for casting metal objects, and it is certain that it was sometimes used by the sculptor as a material for rough sketches (cf. p. [118]). The clay figures or statuettes of the earlier period were either fashioned by hand, or else stamped in a mould, but in either case they were solid, in contradistinction to the Babylonian terra-cottas of the later Greek and Roman times which were generally hollow in the interior, their outside being coated with a kind of paste by means of which the artist endeavoured to work out the details of hair, clothing, and other externalities, while they were not infrequently covered with a vitreous glaze, the colours used being blue and green. But a consideration of this later work lies beyond the scope of our volume, which is confined to a consideration of the Babylonian and Assyrian period.