statue
- Museum number
- 1891,0806.39
- Description
-
Terracotta statue of a bearded male figure; flattened and hollow body, under life-size, is handmade and moulded; he wears a pair of earrings on each ear and a broad diadem or turban around his head; black curly hair falls beneath the back of the headdress; large eyes defined by ridges; the eyebrows and beard are rendered schematically with a series of oblique incisions; his left arm (probably attached separately), left hand and feet are missing; his elaborate dress consists of three garments: a fringed mantle draped over both shoulders with the right arm tucked under the upper fold like a sling, a red-bordered tunic or chiton and a thinner tunic beneath this extending below the hem in a triangular fold; buff clay with red-purple and black painted detail.
- Production date
- 650BC-575BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 62 centimetres (max)
- Curator's comments
- The costume generally resembles those on Assyrian sculpture and may have been influenced by this style, though not necessarily directly as there is very little evidence for Assyrian influence on Cypriot material culture during the period it ruled the island. Other sources of intermediate or complementary influence, such as North Syria or Phoenicia, are like. On the costume see Törnkvist 1972, 7-55 (esp. 9ff). The excavations at Salamis in 1890 are described in detail in the original report (Munro and Tubbs 1891). See Wilson 1980 for a modern overview, includiong of the material now held in the British Museum.
Bibliography:
Counts D. 2001, 'Prolegomena to the study of Cypriote sculpture', CCEC 31 (2001), 129-181.
Törnkvist S. 1982, 'Arms, armour and dress of the terracotta sculpture from Ayia Irini, Cyprus', Medelhausmuseet Bulletin 6 (1972), 7-55, esp. 9ff.
Wilson V. 1980, 'The Tubbs-Munro excavations at Salamis 1890' in M. Yon ed., Salamine de Chypre. Histoire et archéologie (Paris), 59-79.
- Location
- On display (G72/dc6)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2018-2019, 8 Nov 2018-24 Feb 2019, London, British Museum, I am Ashurbanipal: king of the world, king of Assyria
- Acquisition date
- 1891
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1891,0806.39
