Download Mesopotamain Art - Latter

Art 1-7a—Mesopotamian Art Description
Mesopotamian Art Description
of ART CARDS lesson 7, 8 & 9
Name: __________________________
Date: ____________________________
1-7c - Assurbanipal Hunting Relief Carving
Assurbanipal, also spelled Ashurbanipal, was the
king of Assyria from 668-627 BC. In the Bible he is
called Asnappar. (Ezra 4:10) This is a stone relief
carving. The term relief in Latin means to raise.
Relief carvings decorated royal monuments and
honored the king's hunting and war making
achievements.
1-7d - Assurbanipal as High Priest – Relief Sculpture
During his reign, he collected cuneiform texts from all
over Mesopotamia, and especially Babylonia, for his
royal palace in Nineveh. This collection, known as the
Library of Assurbanipal, is now housed at the British
Museum. He was proud of his scribal education. He said,
“I, Assurbanipal within [the palace], took care of the
wisdom of Nebo, the whole of the inscribed tablets, of all
the clay tablets, the whole of their mysteries and
difficulties, I solved.” He was one of the few kings who
could read the cuneiform script in Akkadian and Sumerian, and claimed
that he even read texts from before the great flood.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assurbanipal)
1-7e - Stele of Vultures
A stele is a tall stone pillar with carvings to commemorate
important events. The Stele of Vultures is a limestone
monument showing various battles and religious scenes of
Mesopotamia during 2600-2350 BC. It is broken into seven
pieces now and is named after the vultures in one of the
scenes.
(Fragment of the Stele of the Vultures, Early Dynastic III period, 2600–2350
BC, Louvre Museum.)
Mesopotamia gave us the first forms of written writing known to man
called Cuneiform. Using sharpened sticks, the marks were pressed into
soft clay tablets.
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Art 1-7a—Mesopotamian Art Description
1-7f - Cylinder Seal and Impression
Cylinder Seal, (3000 BC), limestone, Louvre Museum in
the Department of Oriental Antiquities. The Sumerians
produced many small, finely carved cylindrical seals
made of marble, alabaster, carnelian, lapis lazuli, and
stone.
1-7g-War Panel – Standard of Ur
Mesopotamian War panel from 2600 BC. This is a
box decorated with pictures in lapis lazuli (type of
blue stone), shell, and red sandstone with inlay
work.
1-7h - Sumerian Statues
Sumerian Statues, (2700 BCE) Abu Temple in Tell
Asmar, Mesopotamia, stone. Sculpture was a large
part of art during this time. The artists used different
types of metal and clay to make the sculptures.
Faces have very large eyes and simple cylinder and
cone shaped bodies.
1-7i - Winged Assyrian Bull
Mesopotamia, Khorsabad, palace of Sargon II of
Assyria, Neo-Assyrian period, reign of Sargon II (721705 BCE), Winged Assyrian Bull, height 4.40 m, Louvre
Museum. This large statue is called a lamassu,
meaning “protective spirit” in Akkadian. A pair of
lamassu was usually placed at the doorways of
Assyrian palaces to protect against evil spirits.
© 2012 American Heritage Schools, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for copying of the notebook pages and
other online resources for use by the original purchaser’s own immediate family. No part of this publication may be transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Art 1-7a—Mesopotamian Art Description
1-7j - Bull Relief Sculpture
A Babylonian relief sculpture of a bull made of
brightly glazed tiles on the restored Ishtar Gate. The
original sculpture dates from around 575 BC and
stood on the gate of the Temple of Bel, the biblical
Tower of Babel in Babylon.
1-7k - Moses and the Brass Serpent
by Judith Mehr (see Numbers 20:17, 21; 21:4-9); oil painting used
in the Gospel Art Kit for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints.
1-7l - Christus
Christus is the name given to the 11-foot Marble LDS statue
of Jesus Christ originally crafted in 1821 by Danish Sculptor,
Albert Bertel Thorvaldsen. This statue was the first ever
replica of Bertel’s Christus statue acquired by the LDS
church in 1965 and is found in Temple Square, Salt Lake
City. Replicas of his Christus statue have transversed the
globe today and have become a symbol of Christianity,
that Jesus Christ was and is the son of God today
(http://www.christusstatue.com).
Sources:
http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0039818.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_of_Mesopotamia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Assurbanipal_op_jacht.jpg
© 2012 American Heritage Schools, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted for copying of the notebook pages and
other online resources for use by the original purchaser’s own immediate family. No part of this publication may be transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.