Showing posts with label Middle Eastern Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Middle Eastern Art. Show all posts

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Statue of Gudea


We just learned about the Cylinder Seal sculptures.

Another set of sculptures are the many statues of Gudea.

Gudea was a king in the land of Mesopotamia thousands of years ago.
The people he ruled over made many statues of him, and many of them survived for thousands of years.

The statues were made of different types of stone called alabaster or diorite.


(from: wikipedia - statues of gudea)


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Saturday, March 19, 2016

Cylinder Seal


We just learned about the sculpture the Lyres of Ur.

Other famous sculptures are the ancient Cylinder Seals.

Around 3,500 years ago, people would take stone, metal or even jewels and carve them into a cylinder shape.
Then they would carve a hole through the middle so they were like a tube.
On the outside of the tube they would carve pictures that would tell a story, send a message, or maybe be like a signature for someone.

Then they would roll the cylinder along some wet soft clay, and it would leave a print on clay.
The clay dried and they would have a picture.


(from: wikipedia - cylinder seal)


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Saturday, March 12, 2016

Lyres of Ur


We just learned about the Copper Bull sculpture.

Another ancient sculpture is the Bull's Lyre, a bull's head sculpture that was part of three ancient lyres (also known as harps) discovered that were over 4,000 years old.

These lyres are believed to be the oldest stringed instruments still intact.

The sculpture of the bull's head is made of gold, with eyes made of mother-of-pearl and lapis lazuli.
Other parts of the bull's body were made of wood but they did not survive after the thousands of years it was buried.


(from: wikipedia - lyres of ur)


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Saturday, March 5, 2016

Copper Bull


We just learned about the ancient sculpture Ram in a Thicket.

Another ancient sculpture is the Copper Bull.

This sculpture was discovered in 1923 in the country of Iraq, and it was made over 4,000 years ago.

The sculpture was made of wood covered in sticky black bitumen (also known as asphalt), and then copper plates were nailed to the outside of it.


(from: wikipedia - copper bull)


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Saturday, February 27, 2016

Ram in a Thicket


We just learned about the ancient sculpture the Trundholm Sun Chariot.

Another ancient sculpture is called Ram in a Thicket.

This is a sculpture of a ram that is caught in some sort of a bush. There were two of these sculptures found, and they seem to be a pair that stood across from each other.

The person that found them named them ram in a thicket after the story of Abraham where God provided a ram for him to sacrifice.

Since it was very old and had been buried under a lot of dirt, some parts of the statue were rotten and had to be remade to try and make it look like it did long ago.

This sculpture has a wooden middle, that was carved for the face and legs.
The head and legs are covered in gold leaf hammered to the wood and stuck there with a sticky black gooey oil called bitumen or asphalt.
The ears are made of copper which has turned green.
The ram's horns and fleece on it's shoulders are made of lapis lazuli.
The fleece on the body is made of shells stuck to bituman.
It's belly is made of silver plate.
The tree or bush is covered in gold leaf and gold flowers.
It is standing on a small rectangle covered in shells, red limestone and lapis lazuli.
There used to be small silver chains around the ram and trees, but those were too old to recover.



(from: wikipedia - ram in a thicket)


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Saturday, February 6, 2016

Guennol Lioness


We just learned about the swimming reindeer prehistoric art.

Some ancient art from an area known as Mesopotamia is called the Guennol Lioness.

It is a sculpture of a woman mixed with a lion.

(from: wikipedia - guennol lioness)


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