Art 2700 Survey I Mesopotamia & Persia

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White Temple, Uruk, Iraq, 3200- 3000 BCE

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Warka Vase (presentation of offerings to Inanna), from Uruk, c. 3200-3000 BCE

Hint 2

Sumeria
Earliest object from Mesopotamia
Organize Composition in registers, bottom to top
The Warka Vase is read from the bottom to the top. The artist divided the vase's surface into register or friezes. All of the figures are also standing on a common ground line. The artist also used conceptual representation to render the human body's properties distinguishable and fixed. Hierarchy of scale is also used. Inanna, the goddess, is much larger than everyone else- illustrating how she is the focal and most important part of the vase.

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Worshipers from Eshnunna, Iraq, c. 2700 BCE

Hint 3

Wealthy people would buy these so their prayers were answered.
Big Eyeballs never sleep, always praying for you.

SUMERIAN

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Stele of the Vultures, from Girsu, Iraq, 2600- 2500 BCE

Hint 4

-the city states were at war with one another

-shows a victory
-it’s a story
-bodies are being trampled

-vultures carrying the heads of the enemies

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Standard of Ur, tomb 779, Royal Cemetery, Ur, Iraq, ca. 2600 BCE

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The Standard of Ur is a wooden bo inlaid with lapis lazuli, shell, and limestone. It has wide rectangular faces and narrow trapezoidal ends. The function is unknown but some think the Standard o Ur could have been held by a pole as a military standard. The box has two sides: the war and peace sides. Both sides make up a narrative that is read from left to right and bottom to top. The artist used a common ground line and hierarchy of scale.

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Bull-headed lyre, from Ur, Iraq, c. 2600 BCE

Hint 6

an early stringed instrument

SUMERIAN

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Head of Akkadian ruler, from Nineveh, Iraq, c. 2250 -2200 BCE

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Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, from Susa, Iran, 2254- 2218 BCE

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The artist of the stele created a landscape setting for the story and placed the figures on successive tiers within that landscape. The artist therefore did not use the conventional Mesopotamian format of narrative-telling with horizontal friezes.
AKKADIAN

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Stele with law code of Hammurabi, from Susa, c. 1780 BCE

Hint 9

Babylonian, eye for an eye

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Lamassu (winged, human-headed bull), from Citadel of Sargon II, 720-705 BCE

Hint 10

The lamassu was created to ward off the king's enemies. What is wrong with the rending is that the lamassu has 5 legs instead of just 4 because on the side profile, the artist shows 4 legs in motion while the frontal view shows just 2 legs in a stationary position. The artist used the conceptual representational technique because they wanted to show a complete picture of the lamassu by showing it standing still and also moving, depending on which side or angle a person is looking at it.

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Assyrian archers pursuing enemies, relief from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, Kalhu, Iraq, ca. 875- 860 BCE

Hint 11

image of power and prosperity

One of the visual issues of the rendering of Assyrian Archers Pursuing Enemies is that the fort that the enemies are running to looks as though it is floating in water very close to the enemies. Another issue is that the proportion of the figures and the fort are not in line. The figures are far too tall for the door of the fort. One last issue with this rendering is that the archers' bowstrings are in front of their bodies (to clarify that they are archers) but behind their heads so it doesn't hide their faces.

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Persepolis, Iran, c. 521- 465 BCE

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One architectural feature used at Persepolis is the columns with back to back animal protomes (the head, forelegs and part of the body). Animals included on these protomes were griffins, bulls, and lions. These animals suggest that the Persian king had captured the most dangerous animals to hold up the roof of his palace.

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Mesopotamia

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Greek word that means "The Land Between the Rivers" (Tigris and Euphrates)

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sumerian

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An area in the southern region of Babylonia in present-day Iraq

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Akkadian

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The Akkadians were the first Near Eastern rulers to call themselves kings of the world and to assume divine attributes. The earliest recorded name of an author is the Akkadian priestess Enheduanna.

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Neo-Sumerian and Babylonian

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During the Third Dynasty of Ur, the Sumerians rose again to power and constructed one of the largest ziggurats in Mesopotamia at Ur.

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Assyrian

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An ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia which is in present-day Iraq

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Neo-Babylonian and Persian

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In the sixth century BCE, the Babylonians constructed two of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The Ishtar Gate, with its colorful glazed brick reliefs, gives an idea of how magnificent Babylon was under Nebuchadnezzar II (r. 604-562 BCE).

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City-state

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An independent, self-governing city.

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Cuneiform

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Sumerian writing made by pressing a wedge-shaped tool into clay tablets

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Ziggurat

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A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.

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Bent-axis

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Art of Ancient Mesopotamia art and architecture mainly serve theocracy: gods (statue embodied divine presence), worshipers (block like; large eyes to fix gaze on god; hands clasped to evoke humility before the divinity); ziggurat and its complex (symbolizes holy mountain; recesses and projections on outer walls, inside cella, bent-axis) [Sumer]

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Cella

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The chamber at the center of an ancient temple; in a classical temple, the room (greek, naos) in which the cult statue usually stood.

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Register/frieze

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Also known as bands, one of a series of super imposed bands/friezes in a pictorial narrative, or the particular levels on which motifs are placed.

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Ground line

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In paintings and reliefs, a painted or carved baseline on which figures appear to stand

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Hierarchy of scale

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An artistic convention in which greater size indicates greater importance.

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Stele

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A carved stone slab erected to commemorate a historical event or make a grave.

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Foreshortening

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The use of perspective to represent in art the apparent visual contraction of an object that extends back in space at an angle to the perpendicular plane of sight.

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Heraldic compostition

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A composition that is symmetrical on either side of a central figure.

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Name and explain three stylistic conventions found in Sumerian art.

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One stylistic convention found in Sumerian art is that that their eyes are always wide open. This symbolizes eternal wakefulness while looking up to god. Another is that nudity is a sign of a slave or prisoners. One last stylistic convention is that hierarchy of scale was used many times showing the most important people in the middle and taller than anyone else depicted in the piece.

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What is composite view? Why is it used? How is this not a correct depiction of the subject?

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Composite view is a combination of frontal and profile views which gives whoever is looking at it an ability to see all the important parts of the body. This is used so the viewer can distinguish something such as gender in a quick glance. This is not a correct depiction of the subject because the combination of profile legs, frontal torso, profile head, and frontal eye are never able to be viewed at the same time as it is shown in pieces done with the composite view.

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What is the difference between conceptual and optical view?

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The difference between conceptual and optical view is how the viewer sees the perspective of the painting. Optical view is the portrayal of people and objects seen from a fixed point. This means that some parts of the body will be hidden from view. With conceptual view, all of the body's most important parts are seen in one image. Artists who use conceptual representation let the viewer be able to quickly distinguish details such as gender with a quick glance of the image.