2022.241: Group of Four Human Figures

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2022.241

Title

Group of Four Human Figures

Classification

Sculpture

Work Type

statuette, sculpture

Date

c. 2000 BCE

Places

Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Asia, Syria

Period

Bronze Age, Middle

Culture

Syro-Hittite

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/369979

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Copper alloy

Technique

Cast, lost-wax process

Dimensions

8.7 × 5.4 × 1 cm (3 7/16 × 2 1/8 × 3/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

[Charles D. Kelekian, New York (by 1952-1982)], by descent; to [Kelekian Associates, New York (1982-1992)], by descent; to Nanette Rodney Kelekian, New York (1992-2021), bequest; to the Harvard Art Museums.

NOTE:
"Kelekian Associates" was formed at the death of Charles D. Kelekian by Nanette Rodney Kelekian and her mother Beatrice Kelekian. Upon Beatrice Kelekian’s death in 1992, ownership passed to Nanette Rodney Kelekian.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Nanette B. Kelekian

Accession Year

2022

Object Number

2022.241

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

A “bunch” of four figures sprouting from a shared, unformed base. Two larger figures with male genitalia are framed by two smaller, presumably female figures. The men have more prominent hands that could have held weapons or other objects, while the outstretched arms of the women extend over the male bodies.

The flat figures simplify the human body. They appear to have been formed individually in wax, assembled as a group, and cast in copper alloy in the direct method. The group was cast upside down: the base represents the funnel or "casting cup" through which the hot metal was poured into the mold. The faces were created by pinching the wax; a tool was used to define the lower edge of the nose; and the eyes were created from pellets. The heads are concave at back, the bodies flat.

The patina is dark brown with thin grayish green areas and light brown accretions.

Commentary

“Family” groups of this type have been associated with North Syria and dated to the late 3rd and early 2nd millennia BCE. None of the groups have been found in documented excavations, so there is significant uncertainty about their authenticity. This group of four figures has a close parallel in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

See:
Helga Seeden, The Standing Armed Figures in the Levant, Prähistorische Bronzefunde Abteilung I, vol. 1 (Munich: C. H. Beck, 1980) 15-17, pls. 10-11.
P.R.S. Moorey and Stuart Fleming, "Problems in the Study of the Anthropomorphic Metal Statuary from Syro-Palestine before 330 B.C.," Levant 16 (1984) 82-83, no. 2, with metal analysis.
Oscar W. Muscarella, The Lie Became Great: The Forgery of Near Eastern Cultures (Groningen: Styx, 2000) 196 no. 7.

Verification Level