sculpture
- Museum number
- 2002,0114.2
- Description
-
Sculpted head of a man; calcite; inlaid shell eyes highlighted with blue glass. Pupils separately inlaid but missing their inlays; recessed eyebrows with traces of light turquoise glass coloured with cobalt and set in plain white plaster; moustache originally inlaid.
- Production date
- 1stC BC-1stC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 22 centimetres
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Thickness: 10.50 centimetres
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Width: 20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
The use of coloured glass inlays is also reported on a second ancient South Arabian sculptured head offered for sale at Sotheby's NY ('Antiquities', 9 December 2003, lot 65, p. 72).
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Bowers Museum catalogue entry
Head with inlaid blue glass eye-liner and eyebrows
Calcite-alabaster, glass
Possibly 1st century BC - 1st century AD
Height 23.5 cm, width 20 cm, thickness 12.2 cm
Said to be from near the Timna cemetery at Jabal Oqail
ANE 2002-1-14,2
Presented by Jonathan Hassell
This exceptional sculpture is carved from a fine calcite-alabaster; the hair on the top of the head has been roughly chiselled and the rounded face is dominated by a long prominent nose. The eye sockets were inlaid with shell and presumably stone for the pupils, and highlighted with a vivid blue eye-liner. This presumably reflects a common use of an eye-liner such as kohl, which continued to be popular even amongst men as a means of not only enhancing facial appearance but also reducing the effect of solar glare on the eyes. The composition of the eye-liner on this piece has been analysed and proven to be purpose-made strips of glass coloured with cobalt. Several other sculpted heads of this type are known from Southern Arabia, all of which were apparently found at Hayd ibn Aqil, the cemetery of the Qatabanian capital at Timna. The most famous and widely-reproduced of these is the so-called “head of Miriam” which was discovered in Tomb 10 at this cemetery in 1950 by an expedition from the American Foundation for the Study of Man. The blue inlays around the eyes on this head are reported to be of lapis lazuli, and thus presumed to be imported from the Badakhshan region of north-east Afghanistan as this was the only source of this material to be used in the ancient Near East. However, it is clear from an examination of other examples from the collection of the National Museum in Sanaa and elsewhere that coloured glass was the normal form of coloured inlay in ancient Southern Arabia, and other excavated evidence for the use of lapis in this particular region is lacking.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2017-2018 17 Jan-2 Jul, Basel, Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig, 'Arabia Felix: Treasures from Ancient South Arabia'
2007- 11 Jun-, BM, G53/South Arabia/2
2006 13 Apr-Dec, BM, G2/62
2004-2005 17 Oct-13 Mar, California, Bowers Museum, 'Queen of Sheba: Legend and Reality'
2002 5 Jun-13 Oct, BM, 'Queen of Sheba: Treasures from ancient Yemen'
- Condition
- Incomplete - some inlay missing; chipped left eyeball.
NB Take caution in avoiding any contact with the inlaid eyes as these are vulnerable to damage
- Acquisition date
- 2002
- Acquisition notes
- Bought by Jonathan Hassell at Sotheby's (New York), 29 November 1989, lot 39
- Department
- Middle East
- Registration number
- 2002,0114.2