Near Eastern Antiquities in Dialogue. The MET at the Louvre.
The Louvre’s Department of Near Eastern Antiquities is hosting ten major works from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art is currently closed for renovation.
The Louvre and The Met have created a unique dialogue between these two collections, which will be displayed in the Louvre’s permanent galleries.
These ‘special guest’ artworks from the Met, dating from between the late 4th millennium BC and the 5th century AD, show some remarkable connections with the Louvre’s collection. In some cases, a pair of objects will be reunited for the first time, while in others, pieces will complement each other by virtue of specific historical features of their respective collections.
Representing Central Asia, Syria, Iran and Mesopotamia, this dialogue between collections and works of art will (re)introduce visitors to these extraordinary, age-old artefacts and the stories they tell.
A joint project coordinated by:
Ariane Thomas, Director of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Musée du Louvre and Vincent Blanchard, curator at the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Musée du Louvre.
AT THE MICHEL LACLOTTE AUDITORIUM
Conference - Exhibition presentation
Monday 29 February, 12.30 p.m.
Kim Benzel, Curator in Charge of the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Ariane Thomas, Director of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Musée du Louvre.
The directors of these two Near Eastern antiquity departments will discuss this rare encounter between select works as well as the issues currently facing their fields, creating a fruitful exchange between New York and Paris.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTORS OF TWO DEPARTMENTS OF NEAR EASTERN ANTIQUITIES
Kim Benzel, Curator in Charge of the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Ariane Thomas, Director of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Musée du Louvre.
- How did this project come to be, and how did you choose the artworks to be displayed?
Kim Benzel:
The project was born out of the close relationship between our two museums and two departments, which allows us to be in frequent dialogue with one another. The closing of our galleries in New York for renovation presented us with the opportunity to lend these works to our sister institution, the Louvre.
Ariane Thomas:
Our privileged relationship with our colleagues from The Met has allowed us to turn the closing of their galleries for renovation into an unprecedented opportunity for dialogue between precious, unique works of art from The Met and the Louvre. The Louvre’s collection contains many works originating from excavations that add further context to The Met’s pieces. Works from the Louvre and from The Met thus complement each other, working together to offer a clearer picture of the ancient Near Eastern cultures from which they were issued.
- Did the dialogue between these works result in new discoveries? What scientific advances did the meeting of these two collections permit?
Ariane Thomas:
The meeting of our collections was in itself the source of many (re)discoveries for each of the works which entered into dialogue. For example, a fragmentary piece held by the Louvre, which originated from excavations in Tello, Mesopotamia, has allowed for the geographic attribution and dating of a head acquired by The Met, a task which had up until now proved difficult. The Met’s piece has, in return, led to better understanding of where the Louvre’s fragment would have fit into a larger work.
Moreover, a group of objects, long believed to be a necklace, is now on display at the Louvre as a full set thanks to our Met colleagues. This set includes not only pendants but also a number of items which we now believe were excavated together, part of what may have been a monetary hoard.
- Do you have any other collaborations or joint initiatives in the offing?
Kim Benzel and Ariane Thomas:
We plan to press on with our many collaborative projects, and hope that this particular initiative inspires many more exchanges, extending our dialogue into the future.
EXHIBITION ROUTE
Stela of Ushumgal and Shara-igizi-Abzu (room 235)
The Louvre collections include very important works from the 3rd millennium BC. The ‘Orant Dedicated by Prince Ginak’ features a figure similar to the one on New York’s stela of ‘Ushumgal and Shara-igizi-Abzu’: the beard and hairstyle, the arm position and the garment – known as a kaunakes – are identical. Comparable characters can also be found on the ‘Relief of Ur-Nanshe’, which, like the ‘Stela of the Vultures’ – one of the most significant works of its kind – features figures of different scale depicted alongside texts in cuneiform script.
There is also a resemblance between the clothing and hairstyles worn by the figures on this stela and that of other individuals on the statues exhibited in display case 8 of this room.
Made of stone and carved in relief, the ‘Stela of Ushumgal and Shara-igizi-Abzu’ is covered with cuneiform inscriptions that describe a property transaction between Ushumgal and his daughter Shara-igizi-Abzu, who, as the main protagonists, are larger in scale than their witnesses.
Dating from the early 3rd millennium BC, this stela reprises the codes used to portray human figures characteristic of the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia. This is the oldest example of a monument documenting a financial transaction; such documents were perhaps intended for public display.
This type of stela prefigures the kudurrus, or land grant deeds inscribed in stone, that would emerge over a thousand years later. These would often include divinity symbols, attesting to the fact that the transaction was placed under divine protection and could not, therefore, be called into question or contested.
Head of a ruler with turban (room 228)
One of the last remaining vestiges of large copper alloy statuary, The Met’s ‘Head of a ruler with turban’ is remarkable both due to the material used in its creation and the quality of execution. The life-sized head with realistic facial features likely represents a prince; unless they had a symbolic function, the full lips and the prominent nose and ears, uncharacteristic of Mesopotamia, may indicate an ethnicity from lands further east.
Due to the originality of the turban and the quantity of metal used for the casting, it was long thought that this head came from western Iran, a region rich in copper.
However, a stone turban fragment found during excavations at Tello (Mesopotamia) and now held at the Louvre reopened the debate, evoking the close ties between the two regions. The stone fragment, clearly dating from around the 22nd century BC, was also instrumental in dating the copper head more accurately.
The head is shown alongside the statuette of the prince Ur-Ningirsu II of Lagash, a piece shared between the Louvre (body) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (head), and exhibited in Paris until the reopening of The Met’s rooms.
Other figures in this room feature a different type of royal headdress: a skullcap, such as the one worn by Ur-Ningirsu as well as those seen in the many depictions of his father Gudea – both rulers of Girsu (modern-day Tello).
The Dilbat Hoard (room 227)
Shown for the first time in its entirety, this group of precious objects – which we now know are not merely parts of a necklace – includes decorative pieces such as pendants and beads, as well as cylinder seals and unfinished jewellery items.
According to contemporaneous cuneiform texts, these kinds of items also adorned sumptuous clothing, particularly royal garments. Their purpose was not purely decorative: the ornaments served as protective talismans, much like thunderbolt or crescent-shaped medallions and pendants.
Probably hailing from the Babylon region, the objects must have belonged to a group that would have been buried in a jar, in keeping with a well-known Mesopotamian tradition.
These items are extremely rare examples of precious metalwork from Mesopotamia, where precious metals were often reused.
Some of the objects on display here refer to Mesopotamian deities: the disks with rosettes probably symbolise Ishtar, the goddess of love and war; the disk with seven rays represents Shamash, the sun god; the thunderbolt-shaped pendant is the symbol of Adad, the god of storms and fertility; and the moon-shaped pendant is the symbol of Sin, the moon god. The two female figures probably represent Lama, a minor protective goddess, echoing a pair of almost identical gold pendants housed at the Louvre, on show in a nearby display case (5b).
Kneeling Bull holding a spouted vessel (room 232)
This silver statuette depicts a wild ox, common in Iran during this period. The use of silver and the technique employed illustrate the talents of Iranian metalworkers in the late 4th millennia BC. This object also attests to the originality of the art of the Proto-Elamite era (3300–3000 BC), in which scenes of everyday life feature animals rather than humans. Here, the wild bull is kneeling, clothed in a robe and holding a vessel between its hooves, a common posture of worship. This position also echoes that of several orants (figures in prayer) from an earlier period, exhibited in display case 3 of this room. Filled with pebbles, the wild ox is understood to be a noise-making instrument used in worship rituals. It may thus attest to little-known ritual practices from Proto-Elamite Iran.
A parallel can be drawn between the work loaned by The Met and two slightly earlier sculptures discovered in Susa: Small alabaster statuettes depicting orants (figures in prayer). The male figure is seated, holding a vessel before him; the female figure is kneeling. Discovered in ritual deposits, the two pieces refer to practices common to offering ceremonies at the time.
Axe with mythological contest scene (room 305)
With its elaborate decoration, this remarkable ceremonial axe testifies to the symbolic universe of Central Asian populations in the early 2nd millennia BC. It depicts a mythological battle involving three fantastical characters. At the centre, a winged demon with a muscular body and two bird-of-prey heads restrains two formidable opponents: a winged dragon with the body of a lion, and a giant wild boar. According to the beliefs of the region, the demon is a helper of the great Central Asian goddess, responsible for fertility and fecundity. His actions help control the natural forces which, like the dragon and the wild boar, block access to water and destroy vegetation. Usually found in the tombs of warriors, decorated axes like those exhibited in this room served as honorary insignia and were common throughout the Iranian plateau.
A seal impression from the Louvre’s collection depicts an investiture scene presided over by a king and celebrating a scribe named Kuk-Simut, who receives a ceremonial snake-headed axe during the ceremony. The Louvre is also home to a copper horse-headed axe from the same family of objects. A small metal seal testifies to the popularity of imaginary animal motifs – in this case a kneeling, winged demon with the head of a bird of prey, not unlike the one decorating the Met’s axe.
Goblet with Birds of prey (room 305)
At the turn of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC, Central Asia was renowned for its production of precious metal objects. In this vast territory, numerous similar pieces have been found in the tombs of the warrior aristocracy, richly adorned with precious local resources including lapis lazuli and minerals. Decorated at the rim with birds of prey, this type of vessel may have been used in religious ceremonies. Birds of prey are associated with the great goddess, as well as with her helper, the bird-of-prey-headed demon. Both predators and scavengers, they are also closely linked with death. This duality is perhaps why they are featured here, decorating the rim of this exquisite vessel that combines liturgical and funerary functions.
Although there are no comparable items at the Louvre, several works can provide an explanation as to the New York vessel’s shape and use – for instance, the banquet scene decorating this silver box indicates that The Met’s beaker must have been used for ceremonial purposes. A small seal shows a goddess sitting atop a monster, holding a similar vessel, while a tiny chlorite seal features a bird of prey with outstretched wings. These elements confirm the hypotheses regarding the shape and use of the ceremonial vessel.
Foundation Pegs in the form of a Lion (room 302)
The Louvre’s collection contains the twin of the lion from the New York museum. These two works, depicting a roaring lion, are likely from the same period and area.
The lion is a symbolic animal conveying strength and power. In the kingdom of Urkesh, in northern Syria, the representation of its strength implied protectiveness. With its mouth open and powerful claws extended, the animal holds under its paws a tablet bearing an inscription, which is thus placed under its control. This demonstration of strength is also conveyed by the style, a combination of realism and dynamism. The back half of the animal is abbreviated into a peg shape. Placed in the ground, the protector animal and the tablet it guards both anchor, for all eternity, the building whose foundation they adorn. Due to corrosion, the Met’s tablet is now illegible, but its counterpart at the Louvre indicates that the feline safeguards the integrity of the temple built by King Tish-atal for Nergal, god of the underworld. Written exclusively in the Hurrian language, it is the oldest evidence of this to date.
Orthostat relief: Seated Figure with Lotus Flower (room 302)
This basalt block is an orthostat, a slab decorated with reliefs. It was part of a series of 240 slabs of dark basalt and light limestone that embellished the mud brick foundations of the western palace of the Aramaean city of Guzana, serving as protection against rain and erosion. Four reliefs from the Louvre, also from this series, are exhibited nearby. The black basalt and white limestone blocks were arranged in an alternating pattern.
On the front left side of The Met’s block, a man is depicted holding a wilted lotus blossom, indicating a deceased and deified ruler.
He and his descendants are the upholders of the cosmic order, represented on the right by two bullmen supporting a winged sun disk on a pedestal. On the right end of the block, a warrior armed with a club is clothed in an animal skin.
The blocks from the Louvre feature four decorative themes: daily life is evoked through the depiction of a worship scene, while the quest for power is illustrated by the archer; the natural environment, by the lion; and the supernatural realm, by the winged demon.
Rhyton terminating in the forepart of a caracal Cat (room 310)
Rhytons (pouring vessels) in the shape of a horn with a protome (forepart) of an animal are typical of Iranian production of the 1st century BC. They were used to pour wine at banquets. The caracal (a local variety of panther), ivy and the grapevine are all symbols of the Greek wine god Dionysos, whose cult spread across the Middle East after the conquests of Alexander the Great (356–323 BC). At the courts of kings and princes, rhytons were often crafted in silver, providing an opportunity for metalworkers to demonstrate their full mastery. The realism and pose of the leaping animal illustrate the influence of Greek works on Iranian production. The Louvre also houses a few rhytons, of silver or ceramic, produced for less affluent social classes. A ceramic example can be seen in display case 3 of this room.
Plate representing sasanian King Yazdgard I, slaying a Stag (room 310)
Precious objects from the Sasanian Empire (Iran) are exhibited in room 310.
The traditional eastern theme of the king as hunter was used by the Persians of the Sasanian era to glorify the sovereign’s warrior prowess and his symbolic role in upholding the proper order of the cosmos. Standard attributes such as haloes and ribbons help identify the Sasanian kings, each of whom bears his own distinctive composite crown. The crenelated crown adorned with a crescent moon identifies this figure as Yazdgard I (reigned 399–420). Luxurious plates were produced in royal workshops, and sent as gifts by Persian kings to great lords or foreign sovereigns in order to disseminate their image.
Two objects from the Louvre’s collections, presented in display case 5 of this room, also attest to the quality of silverware produced during this period – specifically, a bottle and a cup made of partially gilt silver. These pieces are perfect examples of the Iranian world’s excellent precious metalwork. Depictions of female dancers framed by plant elements, such as those decorating the bottle, were common motifs for silver tableware. They remain an excellent example of the refined lifestyle of Sasanian elites.
