figurine;
mask
- Museum number
- 1894,1101.189
- Description
-
Terracotta mask or read from a figurine of a horned creature similar to the Babylonian Humbaba but probably representing Bes; hollow mould-made body; perforated for suspension below each ear and between the stumps of the horns; the figure has cat-line ears, a grimacing expression baring the teeth and (originally) twisted horns; prominent wrinkles above the eyes and on the face and chin; made of orange-buff clay, fired grey on the interior with white inclusions; decorated with black and purple paint.
- Production date
- 600BC-500BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 17.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The mask has previously been interpreted as the Mesopotamian monster Humbaba/Huwawa but it morely represents a local version of the iconography of the Egyptian god Bes who on Cyprus is depicted with horns (Karageorghis 1990, 3-6; Hermary 1986). This is particularly common at Amathus where numerous examples of large-scale stone sculptures of 'Cypriot Bes' have been found (surveyed in Tassignon 2013). As with the hybrid Herakles-Reshef imagery employed elsewhere on the island during the Cypro-Archaic and Cypro-Classical periods (Counts 2013), the type evokes a male divinity associated with the control of nature, specifically of lions but also of other wild beasts. For the group of terracottas found in Tomb 83, see Hermary 1996.
Bibliography:
Counts D. 2008, 'Master of the Lion: Representation and hybridity in Cypriote sanctuaries', AJA 112/1, 3-27/
Hermary A. 1986, 'Bes (Cypri et in Phoenicia)', LIMC III, 108-12.
Hermary A. 1996, 'Figurines en terre cuite des fouilles anglaises d'Amathonte (1893-1894)', CCEC 26 (1996/2), 13-21.
Karageorghis V. 1990, 'Notes on some terracotta masks from Amathus now in the British Museum', Rivista di Studi Fenici XVIII.
Tassignon I. 2013, Le « Seigneur aux Lions » d’Amathonte. Étude d’iconographie et d’histoire des religions des statues trouvées sur l’agora. Études Chypriotes XVII (Athens).
- Location
- On display (G72/dc4)
- Acquisition date
- 1894
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1894,1101.189
