Ivory Plaque with a Bearded Syrian Dignitary
Unknown · Neo-Assyrian period, eighth century BC
A bearded man stands on an architectural element, perhaps a column capital, on a slim plaque nearly twenty-one centimetres tall and only four wide. He wears a fringed kilt with traces of gold on the fringes, and the hair, beard and eyes keep their colour, the eyes painted black or blue. The plaque is complete, but it was one element of a larger picture that continued on the plaque next to it: the museum suggests two figures standing on either side of a palmette tree, the classic scheme of guardians flanking a sacred plant.
The costume and the stiff frontal pose belong to the Syrian, or north Syrian, tradition of ivory carving, distinct from the Egyptianising Phoenician manner, though both were sold to the same royal clients. The plaque was found in room fourteen of the Building of the Ivories at Arslan Tash, the Assyrian residence at ancient Hadatu in northern Syria, during the 1928 excavations led by François Thureau-Dangin. It came to the Louvre through the partage of 1929.
Did You Know? The dignitary's eyes are still painted, black or blue, and his beard keeps its colour after nearly three thousand years.
Unlock the Full Guide
Read every room and listen to every work in all museums with premium.