Openwork Ivory Plaque with a Syrian Dignitary between Papyrus Stems
Unknown · Neo-Assyrian period, eighth century BC
A bearded man stands facing you between two intertwined stems of papyrus, on a tall narrow openwork plaque nearly eighteen centimetres high. His feet turn to the side while his body faces front, and he wears a long fringed robe and a headband. Purple stains on the band, the fringes and the flower beside his head mark lost gilding, and traces of paint survive. Tenons above and below fixed the plaque into a frame. He is not an Egyptian figure but a Syrian, the kind of prince or official who owned such furniture.
The dignitary style, with its frontal figures and native dress, is the Syrian counterpart to the Egyptianising Phoenician manner seen on the neighbouring plaques, and both were found together at Arslan Tash. The residence at ancient Hadatu in northern Syria was an Assyrian provincial seat, and its Building of the Ivories held furniture obtained from the western cities. This plaque was found in room fourteen during François Thureau-Dangin's 1928 excavations and came to the Louvre through the partage of 1929.
Did You Know? His feet point sideways while his body faces front, a pose that lets the carver show both the fringed robe and the face at once.
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