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A molded terracotta sculpture of a standing lion on a short platform. It has a short main, large ears, a flat back, and its tail lies on top of its rear. It is off-white and green in color and the platform is red. It is standing with its mouth open.

A molded terracotta sculpture of a standing lion on a short platform. It stands on a grey background and faces the viewer’s right. It has a short main, large ears, a flat back, and its tail lies on top of its rear. Its waist is thin and flat across. It is off-white in color, green along spots on the front legs, and the platform is red. It is standing with its mouth open.

Gallery Text

This terracotta lion was covered from head to claw in a lustrous, deep greenish-blue glaze, now largely faded. It is one of a pair from the main temple of ancient Nuzi in northeastern Mesopotamia. The lions probably flanked an image of the deity, who has been identified as Ishtar, goddess of love and war. Ishtar was associated with lions and often depicted standing on them. Largely inhabited by Hurrians, the Bronze Age people of this region, Nuzi was violently destroyed about 1350 BCE. More than three millennia later, in 1925–31, excavations—partly funded by Harvard University—revealed large parts of the settlement and more than 8,000 clay tablets and fragments with cuneiform texts. These documents, which are kept at Harvard’s Semitic Museum, offer rich evidence of life in a medium-sized town in the Mitanni kingdom, an important power of the time whose reach extended over Syria and northern Mesopotamia.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1931.162.A
Title
Lion
Other Titles
Former Title: One of Two Lions from the Temple of Ishtar, Nuzi
Classification
Sculpture
Work Type
sculpture
Date
1500-1350 BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Nuzi (Mesopotamia)
Period
Mitannian period
Culture
Hurrian
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/303387

Location

Location
Level 3, Room 3440, Ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Art, Ancient Middle Eastern Art in the Service of Kings
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Glazed terracotta
Technique
Molded
Dimensions
38.8 x 14 x 37 cm (15 1/4 x 5 1/2 x 14 9/16 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Excavated from Yorghan Tepe, Iraq (January 1930).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard-Baghdad School Expedition
Accession Year
1931
Object Number
1931.162.A
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Description
Lion standing with legs close together. It is made of five parts: both forelegs in one piece, separate rear legs, upper body and head, and base. The open mouth reveals the hollow interior of the statue. Modeled face. The long tail curls over the animal's back, pointing to its left flank. Body and head are largely intact, although the legs were discovered broken into several fragments. The right rear leg is missing a fragment at the upper end.

The rectangular base of the statue is flat; its coarse reddish clay glazed only where the coating has dripped down from the figure. The vitrified glaze is the only apparent adhesive holding together the components of the statue. The glaze is generally faded, although occasional bright patches of color remain, particularly on the legs. Starr assembled the fragments in Iraq following their discovery. The lion was disassembled and restored in 1980 in the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies of the Harvard Art Museum.

Publication History

  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), p. 96, no. 105, ill.
  • James Cuno, Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Ivan Gaskell, and William W. Robinson, Harvard's Art Museums: 100 Years of Collecting, ed. James Cuno, Harvard University Art Museums and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (Cambridge, MA, 1996), p. 96-97, ill.
  • Pamela B. Vandiver, Ancient Glazes, Scientific American, Scientific American, Inc. (New York, 1997), Special Issue "The Origins of Technology", pp. 20-27, p. 25, ill. 3
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997

Exhibition History

  • Nuzi and the Hurrians, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, Cambridge, 04/01/1998 - 05/01/2008
  • 32Q: 3440 Middle East, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights
  • Google Art Project

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu