Northern Mesopotamian Eye Idol

Culture: Mesopotamia

Period: 3500-3000 B.C.

Material: Alabaster

Dimensions: 7 cm high

Price: Sold

Ref: 6422

Provenance: From the old German collection Professor Göring, prior to 1980. Thence with the Antikenkabinett Gackstätter with the list number 01737. Last in a Munich collection. With the original certificate of the Antikenkabinett Gackstätter.

Condition: Intact. Almost thoroughly covered with dark brown encrustation. On one side a small flaking of encrustation.

Description: Massive, bell-shaped alabaster eye idol. The cylindrical body stands on a flat bottom. The shoulder rounded and tapering to the spectacled worked out pair of eyes. The eyes are circularly pierced. In the area of the neck a notch emphasizes the circular form which increases the effect of the pair of eyes. Idols like the present one were not only found in the famous eye temple of Tell Brak, but also in other places in northern Mesopotamia. This example is supposed to be from Tappa Gaura, a settlement hill in today's Iraq.