Sumerian Art and its Influences
November 10th, 2008 by admin
Mother goddesses were worshipped in the hope of bringing fertility to women and crops. These were the next tallest statues. Smaller than these were the priests and the smallest were the worshippers. All statues have their heads uplifted and hands clasped with cylindrical bodies devoid of any gender differentiation. The clasped hands is the pose of supplication or portraying ‘wanting or waiting for something’. In Sumerian art the entire body of the statues is simple except the faces. This reinforces the power of the face with dominating eyes. The vast eyes would be inlaid with colored stones or enamel making them stand out.
These figures were stand ins used during religious rituals. The rituals involved leaving the stand-ins at the temple when a person died. These large eyed statues seemed to speak as they stared open eyed offering supplication to the gods on behalf of whoever donated them to the temples.
Another piece of Sumerian art was the standard or the banners which was a part of the state. The figures on these banners pretty much summed up the Sumerian life in its entirety. One side of the banner had soldiers leading prisoners to the king, while the other side had a king holding a banquet and commoners bringing him gifts of livestock and farm produce and manufactured goods. This Sumerian art piece is 18 inches decorated with shell and lapis lazuli. The mosaic was designed in bitumen.
Sumerian merchants led their barley and textile filled caravans into Asia Minor and Iran returning with timber, stone and metals. Soon, these were used in making weapons and Sumerian art as well. The Sumerian art forms reflect on the culture and lifestyle of the ancient Sumerians.
Tags: colored stones, crops, cylindrical bodies, enamel, fareast, fertility, gender differentiation, ins, mother goddesses, mso, orphan, paper source, priests, religious rituals, statues, style definitions, style name, sumerian clothing, times new roman, worshipped, worshippers
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