A History of Sumer and Akkad. L. W. King
with Ningirsu, which dates from the epoch of Gudea; he is seated upon a throne, and while the torso and bearded head are sculptured full-face, the legs are in profile.[22] On another fragment of a relief of the same period, beautifully cut in alabaster but much damaged by fire, a goddess is represented seated on the knees of a god. The rendering of the group is very spirited, for while the god gazes in profile at his wife, she looks out from the sculpture curving her body from the hips.[23]
DIORITE STATUE OF GUDEA, PATESI OF SHIRPURLA, REPRESENTED AS THE ARCHITECT OF THE TEMPLE OF GATUMDUG.—In the Louvre; Déc. en Chald., pl. 14.
In neither instance can it be said that the sculptor has completely succeeded in portraying a natural attitude, for the head in each case should be only in three-quarter profile, but such attempts at an unconventional treatment afford striking evidence of the originality which characterized the work of the Sumerians. Both the sculptures referred to date from the later Sumerian period, and, if they were the only instances recovered, it might be urged that the innovation should be traced to the influence of North Babylonian art under the patronage of the kings of Akkad. Fortunately, however, we possess an interesting example of the same class of treatment, which undoubtedly dates from a period anterior to the Semitic domination. This is afforded by a perforated plaque, somewhat similar to the more primitive ones of Ur-Ninâ,[24] engraved in shallow relief with a libation-scene. The figure of a man, completely nude and with shaven head and face, raises a libation-vase with a long spout, from which he is about to pour water into a vase holding two palm leaves and a flowering branch.[25] The goddess in whose honour the rite is being performed is seated in the mountains, represented as in later times by a number of small lozenges or half circles. While her feet and knees are in profile, the head is represented full-face, and the sculptor's want of skill in this novel treatment has led him to assign the head a size out of all proportion to the rest of the body. The effect is almost grotesque, but the work is of considerable interest as one of the earliest attempts on the part of the Sumerian sculptors to break away from the stiff and formal traditions of the archaic period. From the general style of the work the relief may probably be dated about the period of Eannatum's reign.
Fig. 20. Perforated plaque engraved with a scene representing the pouring out of a libation before a goddess.—In the Louvre; Cat. No. 11.
The Sumerians did not attain the decorative effect of the Assyrian bas-reliefs with which the later kings lined the walls of their palaces. In fact, the small size of the figures rendered them suitable for the enrichment of stelæ, plaques, basins and stone vases, rather than for elaborate wall sculptures, for which in any case they had not the material. The largest fragment of an early bas-relief that has been recovered appears to have formed the angle of a stone pedestal, and is decorated with figures in several registers representing ceremonies of Sumerian worship.[26] In the upper register on the side that is best preserved is a priest leading worshippers into the presence of a god, while below is a crouching figure, probably that of a woman who plays on a great lyre or harp of eleven cords, furnished with two uprights and decorated with a horned head and the figure of a bull. On the side in the upper row is a heavily bearded figure on a larger scale than the rest, and the mixture of Sumerian and Semitic types in the figures preceding him suggests that the monument is to be assigned to the period of Semitic domination, under the rule of the kings of Kish or Akkad. But it is obviously Sumerian in character, resembling the work of Gudea's period rather than that of Narâm-Sin.
Fig. 21.—Fragments of sculpture belonging to the best period of Sumerian art.—Déc., pl. 25, Figs. 4 and 6.
The perfection of detail which characterized the best work of the Sumerian sculptors is well illustrated by two fragments of reliefs, parts of which are drawn in outline in the accompanying blocks. The one on the left is from a bas-relief representing a line of humped cattle and horned sheep defiling past the spectator. It is badly broken, but enough is preserved to show the surprising fidelity with which the sculptor has reproduced the animal's form and attitude. Though the subject recalls the lines of domestic animals upon the Assyrian bas-reliefs, the Sumerian treatment is infinitely superior. The same high qualities of design and workmanship are visible in the little fragment on the right. Of the main sculpture only a human foot remains; but it is beautifully modelled. The decorative border below the foot represents the spouting vase with its two streams of water and two fish swimming against the stream. A plant rises from the vase between the streams, the symbol of vegetation nourished by the waters.[27] The extreme delicacy of the original shows to what degree of perfection Sumerian work attained during the best period.
Fig. 22. — Limestone head of a lion which decorated the corner of a basin set up by Gudea in Ningirsu's temple at Lagash (Shirpurla). — Déc., pl. 24, Fig. 3.
The use of sculpture in relief was also most happily employed for the decoration of basins or fountains. The most elaborate of those recovered, unhappily represented by mutilated fragments only, was decorated on the outside with a chain of female figures passing from hand to hand vases of spouting water.[28] Better preserved are the remains of another basin, which was set up by Gudea in Ningirsu's temple at Lagash. Rectangular in shape, each corner was decorated with a lion. The head, drawn in the accompanying block, is a fine piece of sculpture, and almost stands out from the corner, while the body, carved in profile on the side of the basin, is in low relief. In this portrayal of a lion turning its head, the designer has formed a bold but decorative combination of relief with sculpture in the round.
The most famous examples of Sumerian sculpture are the statues of Gudea, and the rather earlier one of Ur-Bau, which, however, lose much of their character by the absence of their heads. It is true that a head has been fitted to a smaller and more recently found figure of Gudea;[29] but this proves to be out of all proportion to the body—a defect that was probably absent from the larger statues. The traditional attitude of devotion, symbolized by the clasping of the hands over the breast, gives them a certain monotony; but their modelling is superior to anything achieved by the Babylonians and Assyrians of a later time.[30] Thus there is a complete absence of exaggeration in the rendering of the muscles; the sculptor has not attempted by such crude and conventional methods to ascribe to his model a supernatural strength and vigour, but has worked direct from nature. They are carved in diorite, varying in colour from dark green to black, and that so hard a material should have been worked in the large masses required, is in itself an achievement of no small importance, and argues great technical skill on the part of the sculptors of the later period.
Fig. 23.—Upper part of a female statuette of diorite, of the period of Gudea or a little later.—Déc., pl. 24 bis, Fig. 2.
For smaller figures and statuettes a softer stone, such as white limestone, alabaster, or onyx, was usually employed, but a few in the harder stone have been recovered. The most remarkable of these is a diorite statuette of a woman, the upper part of which has been preserved. The head and the torso were found separately, but thanks to their hard material they join without leaving a trace of any break. Here, as usual, the hands are crossed upon the breast, and the folds of the garment are only indicated under the arms by a few plain