Fragment of an Ivory Plaque: Sphinx with Spread Wings and Frontal Face
Unknown · Neo-Assyrian period, eighth century BC
A sphinx of Syrian type looks straight at you, its human face framed by spread wings, on a fragment nearly nine centimetres long. The body, the hind legs and part of the lower band are missing. The face is broad and calm, with large eyes, and the wings rise on either side with their feathers laid in rows. On the back the carver used a knife to hollow the ivory, and the marks remain. This is the head that the other sphinx fragments in the case have lost, so use it to imagine them complete.
Frontal-faced sphinxes are typical of the north Syrian workshops, whereas the Phoenician carvers preferred the profile view seen on the plaque beside this one. Both styles were found together at Arslan Tash, ancient Hadatu, an Assyrian provincial residence in northern Syria whose Building of the Ivories was excavated in 1928 by François Thureau-Dangin. This piece came from room fourteen and reached the Louvre through the partage of 1929.
Did You Know? Of all the sphinxes in this case, this is the one that kept its face.
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