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Bowl

Unknown7th Century BC - 6th Century BC

Cincinnati Art Museum

Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati, United States

This rock crystal bowl is carved in shallow relief with a lively frieze in which lions are stalking and attacking bulls. This venerable theme was common in Mesopotamian art, with examples dating back as far as the Sumerian period (third millennium B.C.). The Art Museum’s bowl may be dated more precisely by its shape and by the style and iconography of its figured decoration, to which we can find the closest parallels in Assyrian and later Persian art of the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. The rosette medallion and the radial fluting on the underside are common decorative features of drinking bowls (phialai) from that period in both hammered metal and cast glass. In the rendering of musculature and body fur, the lions on this bowl closely resemble the felines depicted in the great lion-hunt palace reliefs of King Ashurbanipal at Nineveh, carved around 645 B.C.

The execution of this bowl in rock crystal is quite unusual, however. Because of the difficulties inherent in working such a medium (the piece was carved from a single block of stone), the manufacture of rock crystal items in antiquity must have been a rare, specialized craft associated with a palace industry centering on glass production.

In each pair, the craftsman has taken particular care to vary the attitude and posture of victim and aggressor. The scene of a lioness attacking a bull is especially poignant: staring resolutely outward, she pounces and tears at her bovine victim, whose head is bowed by the force of the attack.

Details

  • Title: Bowl
  • Creator: Unknown
  • Date Created: 7th Century BC - 6th Century BC
  • Location: Iraq or Western Iran
  • Location Created: Iraq or Western Iran
  • Physical Dimensions: H. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm), Diam. 6 13/16 in. (17.3 cm)
  • Credit Line: Museum Purchase
  • Alternate Title:: Bowl with Frieze of Lions Attacking Bulls
  • Accession Number: 1957.500
  • Type: Gem
  • Medium: Rock crystal

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