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Opposite
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Standing female figure wearing
a necklace
Southern Arabia
IV–III millennia BC
Basalt
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York
Following pages
Rock formation, Wadi Doan, Daw’an,
Hadramaut, Southern Arabia
Bibliography
: Kirkbride 1969; Anati 1974; steim-
er-Herbet et. al. 2007; Antonini de maigret 2012.
179
178
181
180
47
Seated SteatopygeouS
figure
Southwest Arabia
IV millennium BC
Reddish sandstone, H. 17.8 cm,
W. 14 cm
Private Collection, Paris
The colourful stone, the position of
the arms crossed under the breasts
and the rendering of the facial features
are typical of pr
ehistoric figures
from Arabia. The seated position
is infrequent and the sculptor built
his composition in juxtaposed well-
balanced geometric volumes.
C.A.
183
182
48
Standing SteatopygeouS
figure
Southwest Arabia
IV millennium BC
Basalt, H. 22 cm
Private Collection, London, inv. 2131
The powerful, abstract geometric
composition of this monumental figure
makes it a masterpiece of the eternal
steatopygeous genre, across time and
space. The material, the rendering
of the eyebrows and the position of
the arms crossed under the breasts
indicate an attribution to prehistoric
Arabia.
C.A.
185
184
49
Standing SteatopygeouS
figure
Southwest Arabia
IV millennium BC
Marble, H. 15 cm, W. 8 cm
Private Collection, Paris
Typical of prehistoric Arabia by the
facial traits, the position of the arms
and the division of the body in several
carefully assembled volumes, the
globular head, the perfectly round
breasts, the curved belly and the orbs
of the thighs. The unusual mottled
white-grey marble adds softness to
the general contour.
C.A.
50
Standing SteatopygeouS
figure
Southwest Arabia
IV millennium BC
Red sandstone, H. 23.5 cm
Private Collection, Germany
This figure, more elongated and
firm bodied than the previous ones,
with small breasts, flat belly, smooth
buttocks and thighs, presents all the
characteristics of southwest Arabia
by the facial traits, position of the
arms, stump lower legs and taste for
colourful stone.
C.A.
187
186
51
Standing Male figure
Southern Arabia
IV millennium BC
Sandstone, H. 10 cm, W. 7 cm
Private Collection, Germany
This angular cut-out plaque figure
presents a square head above
a quadrangular body and two
separated cut-out and abbreviated
legs. Engraved are a number of
precise details: the hollowed eyes
and a straight horizontal line for the
mouth. Across the torso, the arms are
rendered as a double incised line,
ending in spread-out fingers. Straight
hairs and beard are engraved. In its
schematic rendition, this striking figure
announces the abstract idols of the
Nabatean period and is tentatively
attributed here to prehistoric Arabia.
C.A.
52
Standing Male figure
Southwestern Arabia
IV millennium BC
Black stone (basalt ?), H. 28.8 cm,
W. 9.8 cm
Private Collection, Switzerland
This standing warrior, perhaps a
dead ancestor figure, is armed with a
baldric across the torso and a belted
kilt. The strong arms crossed at the
waist give poise to the balanced
construction of the abstract volumes
of this figure, a fluid image, a contrast,
but a complementary view with the
preceding angular figure.
C.A.
189
188
SYRIA
MESOPOTAMIA
191
190
eye idolS
in WeStern ASiA
Spectacle idol,
rectangular Body,
HigH necK
Western Asia
3300–3000 BC
Private Collection, Paris
(cat. 62, detail)
T
he “eye idols”, named after their enormous eyes, appeared at the end of the
fourth millennium and were distributed over a vast geographic space that
covers a large part of Western Asia: from eastern Anatolia to Southwestern
iran, along the foothills of the Zagros range that borders the east of turkey, Syr-
ia and iraq. eye idols came to the attention of scholars when hundreds of these
small figurines surfaced at tell Brak on the Khabur valley, in a temple subsequently
called eye temple, excavated by a British expedition. Similar figures were found
in the upper valley of the euphrates, in the region of urfa; down the river at mari;
in the upper valley of the tigris, at tepe Gawra in the south at tello; and at Susa,
an extension of the mesopotamian lower plain in Southwest iran. this geographic
distribution corresponds to the diffusion of the uruk culture. emerged around
3300–3200 Bc in Southern mesopotamia and named after the major city state of
uruk, in the land of Sumer, this culture heralded the foundation of the first cities
and the invention of writing. the uruk culture developed figurative art forms of
outstanding quality, characterized by a realistic approach to the rendering of the
human body: among the masterpieces are the “naked king-priests” (
cat. n° 65-
66, see essay by e. rova
) or the famous head of the “lady”, now in the Baghdad
museum. in its expansion towards the north, the uruk culture came into contact
with strong local traditions. the acculturation process allowed for interchange
and return influence. thus, the concept of the highly schematized eye idols which
probably originates in eastern Anatolia and northern syria, found its way to the
south, as evidenced from the examples excavated in tello or susa. inversely, figu-
rative realist sculptures found in syria, like the stone heads from the eye temple
of tell Brak, are probably a response to the artistic achievements of the southern
uruk culture, while retaining the oversized eyes. the schematic and the figurative
art forms seem to have coexisted.
eye idols may be divided into two main groups, according to the shape of the
eyes. in the eye idol proper, the face is reduced to two eyes protruding from a neck
above a quadrangular body. the eyes are drawn in concentric circles or lozenges
and often outlined with black paint in bitumen. in the second group, the eyes are
set above the body in two protruding loops that look strangely like a pair of modern
spectacles or goggles; both groups are represented in the eye temple of tell Brak.
A significant difference between the two groups resides in the shape and size
of the body. the spectacle figures are sculpted in the round and are able to stand on
193
192
1
Spectacle Idol
No provenance (Levant/Syria?)
ca. 3300–3000 BC
Red polished terracotta
Musée du Louvre, Paris
2
Spectacle idol and miniatures
Tello, Southern Iraq
Ca. 3300–3000 BC
Terracotta,
gypsum alabaster
3
Miniature Spectacle Idols
Susa, Southwest Iran)
Ca. 3300–3000 BC
Faïence
Musée du Louvre, Paris
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