Female head
Unknown Artist
ca. 8th–7th century BCE
Medium
Ivory
Dimensions
3 1/4 × 1 11/16 × 1 1/2 in. (8.3 × 4.3 × 3.8 cm)
Classification
Ivory/Bone-Sculpture
Culture & Period
Assyrian · Neo-Assyrian
Department
Ancient Near Eastern Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.107.13
Tags
About this artwork
This carved ivory head represents the sophisticated sculptural traditions of Neo-Assyrian Mesopotamia during the 8th-7th centuries BCE. Though just over 3 inches tall, this fragment demonstrates the extraordinary skill of ancient Near Eastern ivory carvers who created luxury objects for palace and temple decoration. Assyrian ivory carving reached its zenith during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, when tribute and trade brought ivory from African elephants to Mesopotamian workshops. Artisans created furn...