男性或女性人物的头部 - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	男性或女性人物的头部
品名（英）	Head of a male or female figure
入馆年号	1962年，62.269.2
策展部门	古代近东艺术（Ancient Near Eastern Art）
创作者
创作年份	公元前 900 - 公元前 700
创作地区
分类
尺寸	高 3 7/16 x 宽 3 9/16 x 深 2 1/8 英寸 (8.7 x 9 x 5.4 厘米)
介绍（中）	这件作品由一段象牙雕刻成圆形，可以代表男性或女性形象的头部。它与其他几个零碎的小雕像一起在沙尔曼尼瑟堡的一个储藏室中被发现，沙尔曼尼瑟堡是尼姆鲁德的一座皇家建筑，可能被用来存放亚述人在军事行动中收集的贡品和战利品。切入正面平反面的两个矩形榫眼表明，这件作品最初是由各种材料制成的复合小雕像的一部分，并涂有或覆盖有金箔。它可能附着在另一块由木头或象牙制成的部件上，包括头部的上部和后部。颈部是弯曲的，也许是为了适合连接胸部的衣领。曾经充满深切眼睛和眉毛的柔和造型和镶嵌是腓尼基艺术的特征。头饰每隔一段时间打结，并保留了一些原始的埃及蓝镶嵌物，埃及蓝是一种由二氧化硅、石灰、铜和碱制成的充满活力的颜料。尼姆鲁德的宫殿和储藏室由亚述国王阿舒尔纳西尔帕尔二世建造，存放了数千件雕刻象牙。大多数象牙用作家具镶嵌物或小贵重物品，如盒子。虽然其中一些雕刻的风格与西北宫殿墙壁上的大型亚述浮雕相同，但大多数象牙都展示了与北叙利亚和腓尼基城邦艺术相关的图像和风格。腓尼基风格的象牙的特点是使用与埃及艺术相关的图像，例如狮身人面像和戴法老王冠的人物，以及使用精致的雕刻技术，例如镂空和彩色玻璃镶嵌。北叙利亚风格的象牙倾向于以更动态的构图描绘更粗壮的人物，雕刻成实心牌匾，添加的装饰元素较少。但是，有些作品不容易融入这三种风格中的任何一种。大多数象牙可能是亚述国王从附庸国收集的贡品，以及被征服的敌人的战利品，而有些可能是在尼姆鲁德的作坊中制造的。为这些物品提供原材料的象牙几乎可以肯定来自非洲大象，从埃及南部的土地进口，尽管大象确实居住在叙利亚的几个河谷，直到公元前八世纪末被猎杀灭绝。
介绍（英）	This piece is carved in the round from a section of elephant tusk and could represent the head of a male or a female figure. It was found with several other fragmentary statuettes in a storeroom at Fort Shalmaneser, a royal building at Nimrud that was probably used to store tribute and booty collected by the Assyrians while on military campaign. Two rectangular mortises cut into the flat reverse of the face suggest that this piece was originally part of a composite statuette made of various materials and painted or overlaid with gold foil. It was probably attached to another piece made out of wood or ivory that comprised the upper part and back of the head. The neck is curved, perhaps to fit into the collar of the joining chest. The soft modeling and inlays that once filled the deeply cut eyes and eyebrows are characteristic of Phoenician artistry. The headdress is tied by knots at intervals and preserves some of its original inlay of Egyptian blue, a vibrant pigment made of silica, lime, copper, and alkali. Built by the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II, the palaces and storerooms of Nimrud housed thousands of pieces of carved ivory. Most of the ivories served as furniture inlays or small precious objects such as boxes. While some of them were carved in the same style as the large Assyrian reliefs lining the walls of the Northwest Palace, the majority of the ivories display images and styles related to the arts of North Syria and the Phoenician city-states. Phoenician style ivories are distinguished by their use of imagery related to Egyptian art, such as sphinxes and figures wearing pharaonic crowns, and the use of elaborate carving techniques such as openwork and colored glass inlay. North Syrian style ivories tend to depict stockier figures in more dynamic compositions, carved as solid plaques with fewer added decorative elements. However, some pieces do not fit easily into any of these three styles. Most of the ivories were probably collected by the Assyrian kings as tribute from vassal states, and as booty from conquered enemies, while some may have been manufactured in workshops at Nimrud. The ivory tusks that provided the raw material for these objects were almost certainly from African elephants, imported from lands south of Egypt, although elephants did inhabit several river valleys in Syria until they were hunted to extinction by the end of the eighth century B.C.