July 26, 2023
Description
From the British Museum:
"This large plaque is made of baked straw-tempered clay, modelled in high relief. The figure of the curvaceous naked woman was originally painted red. She wears the horned headdress characteristic of a Mesopotamian deity and holds a rod and ring of justice, symbols of her divinity. Her long multi-coloured wings hang downwards, indicating that she is a goddess of the Underworld. Her legs end in the talons of a bird of prey, similar to those of the two owls that flank her. The background was originally painted black, suggesting that she was associated with the night. She stands on the backs of two lions, and a scale pattern indicates mountains.
The figure could be an aspect of the goddess Ishtar, Mesopotamian goddess of sexual love and war, or Ishtar's sister and rival, the goddess Ereshkigal who ruled over the Underworld, or the demoness Lilitu, known in the Bible as Lilith. The plaque probably stood in a shrine.
The same goddess appears on small, crude, mould-made plaques from Babylonia from about 1850 to 1750 BC. Thermoluminescence tests confirm that the 'Queen of the Night' relief was made between 1765 and 45 BC.
Also known as The Burney Relief.
Old Babylonian, 1800-1750 BC
From southern Iraq
Material: Baked straw-tempered clay
Height: 49.500 cm
Width: 37.000 cm
Thickness: 4.800 cm (max.)
British Museum Object Number: ME 2003-7-18,1
Room 56: Mesopotamia
Scanned by Cosmo Wenman using Autodesk 123D Catch at The British Museum, London, August 2012. For more information about this work visit:
License:
Creative Commons - Attribution
kuck_ukr
