Page 101 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

PART one: MESOPOTAMIA
astonishing vitality and power of the period arc the seal designs. One must remember
not only the dull mediocrity of glyptic art in the Kassitc south, but also the impoverish-
ment, in both subject-matter and design, which had followed the great Akkadian Ace
to appreciate the achievements of the Middle Assyrian seal-cutters (Plates 75-6). Once
agam the challenge that each seal must show an individual design was accepted with
alacrity. The makeshifts of the Hammurabi Period, which differentiated the seals by the
elaboration of inscriptions (a method adhered to also in Kassitc times), or by the dull
juxtaposition of unconnected motifs, were abandoned. A wealth of new subjects made
their appearance, engraved in the grand manner, and spaciously composed. Some of
them seem to be straightforward renderings of natural scenes, vivid and beautifully
cxe-
cuted. A deer moves cautiously between trees;21 a ewe suckles its lamb.22 Such subjects
- a stag, a tree, a mountain, and a plant in plate 76A - sometimes form the continuous
frieze so dear to the designers of the Early Dynastic Period. It is characteristic that this
scheme of composition, so eminently suitable for a design impressed by an engraved
cylinder, becomes once more popular (Plates 75 and 76).
But it is possible that we misinterpret the combination of stag and mountain if we see
in it a mere nature scene. The fact that vegetation is caused to sprout from the mountain­
side recalls the relief of plate 72, and we may well have here an allusion to the earth as
the depository of the divine vitality which pervades nature; the seal would then be a
rendering of a theme which was at least 2,000 years old (Plate 8 a). Religious overtones
are unmistakable in the next seal (Plate 76b). The bulls and the triple tree in the centre
are drawn as vividly as the stag in its setting; but the bulls are flanked by the artificial
‘sacred tree\ It is possible to assert that it was used here as a space-filler, but the meaning
of most of the new designs escapes us. The theme of conflict reappears with all the fierce­
ness which characterizes the renderings of the Akkadian Period; but on the Middle
Assyrian seals it was less often subjected to a heraldic arrangement and never used to sup­
port an inscribed panel. Inscriptions are added occasionally, in horizontal lines above or
between the figures. The latter arc spaced with the freedom of mastery. Notice the dar­
ing and elegance of plate 76c, where a lion centaur destroys a puny lion. Compare the
power of the Hon in plate 75B, where it attacks a naked hunter, who recalls black-figured
Attic vases, but here faces the strangest gathering of game. Or sec the noble Pegasus de­
fending a wingless foal against a Hon bristling with rage (Plate 75A)- More purely linear
designs, producing the effect of embroideries, are also known (Plate 76D). We cannot
identify the winged demon who holds the antelope, nor that other one (Plate 75c) who
persecutes an indignant ostrich.
The affinities of these seals with those of the Akkadian Period are unmistakable, but

this may weU be due to a similar outlook rather than to tradition. For one tiling, t e
mythological subjects which fascinated the Akkadian artists (Plate 45b) were not re­
in which the
vived in Middle Assyrian times. Beyond fights with animals and monsters, in
„ods cannot be identified and of which, in any case, the religious import is a matter of
g rmise no acts of the gods are depicted. Men pray or offer incense or libations before
divine statue23 (Figure 24B) or a shrine or a Ziggurat.24 Ritual alone represents re gion
on the Middle Assyrian seals.

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