THE art of engraving on shell in Mesopotamia dates back to the earliest days of Sumerian civilization. The most ancient of these engravings are executed on shells with rough surfaces, of which those of the oyster seem to have been the most popular.

Some of the fragments recovered are clearly shaped and fashioned for inlaying purposes, while others, of curved shape, can be fitted together and once formed part of an engraved and delicately moulded vase or cup. Some time later mother-of-pearl became the popular material among engravers, who used it to great advantage. Mother-of-pearl is undoubtedly more effective and striking than ordinary shell, but it has its disadvantages and drawbacks, for it is both brittle and scaly, and in consequence of this the engraver seems to have been compelled from the necessity of the case to confine himself to the use of flat blades or flakes when employing this material.

One of the most ancient specimens of the shell-engraver’s art as yet discovered is that reproduced in Fig. 78. This fragment is convex in form and a truncated triangle as regards its shape. A lion is seen in the act of strangling a bull; with one of his fore-legs he is grasping his victim round the neck, and the other is thrown around and over the bull’s back, while he is burying his teeth in the bull’s neck. The general style to which this engraving conforms, the full-face view of the lion, the act in which he is engaged, and the combined vigour and crudeness which characterize this production, vividly recall the mace-head of Mesilim, king of Kish (cf. Fig. 26). The comparison between the two is so striking that we can hardly be wrong in assigning this engraved shell to approximately the same period, i.e. to the time before Ur-NinÂ, the founder of the first dynasty of Lagash. It was discovered at TellÔ in the neighbourhood of Eannatum’s well and is just under three inches in height. In Fig. 79138 we have another fragment of a very archaic shell-engraving; a human-headed and streaky-bearded bull is being attacked by a lion-headed eagle; the shell itself is extremely thin, and the engraving very delicate, but the design itself as well as the mode of its execution both testify to its great age. The shell work of the time of Ur-Nin and his successors is well illustrated in Fig. 80. We have here a sketch of a man bearing a net; the man is clean-shaven and bald, and his face is of precisely the same type as that so frequently represented on the sculptures of Ur-NinÂ’s time. His only clothing is a short “kaunakes” skirt, the fringe of which is portrayed in the fashion characteristic of the earliest Sumerian works of art. In his right hand he carries a battle-axe, while with his left he holds the ends of two sticks from which is slung the net or basket already referred to. This small relic was found in the same neighbourhood as the preceding, and is just under two inches high. Another interesting specimen of Sumerian shell-engraving is published by Mr. L. W. King in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical ArchÆology, 1910, pp. 243-5. It represents a bearded hero embracing an ibex. It is worthy of note that the hero’s dress does not consist in the Sumerian skirt, but in a loin-cloth. Probably the finest example of early Babylonian shell-work is that reproduced in Fig. 81; the leaping kid is wonderfully realistic both in form and attitude and has clearly been studied from nature. Of the mother-of-pearl work of a somewhat later date we have a good example in Fig. 82. Here Gilgamesh is depicted in standing posture holding in either hand one of the long “staves” seen elsewhere, and specifically on the famous green steatite vase of Gudea (cf. Fig. 90). Gilgamesh is portrayed full-face and has the long vertically streaked beard so frequently seen on the cylinder-seals. This fragment is just under two and a half inches in height, and emanated from the same place. The engraved oblong mother-of-pearl plaques would appear to have been used for the decoration of the handles of knives or daggers.

In Fig. 83 we have one of the best preserved and most interesting specimens of later shell-work in Mesopotamia. This fragment was discovered at Warka (Erech), but is clearly Assyrian in style: the elaborately caparisoned horses remind us strikingly of the horses sculptured in relief on the palace walls of Ashur-na?ir-pal at NimrÛd (Calah), while the floral decoration betrays Egyptian influence and recalls the carved ivories which were found amid the dÉbris of that king’s palace. The ruined mounds of Assyria herself have yielded but few specimens of the shell-engraver’s art, and those that have Fig. 83. Fig. 83. (After Layard.) been recovered are for the most part Phoenician in workmanship and Egyptian in conception, sphinxes and lotus-plants assuming the most prominent part in the decoration. The discovery of engraved shells of apparently a yet later date was among the many interesting results attending the German excavations at Babylon; a number of these shells were found on the floor of a building of Nebuchadnezzar, some of which showed Egyptian influence and were decorated with lotus ornaments. Shell was thus used for various decorative purposes, but in early times it sometimes served as a material for the fashioning of even so utilitarian an object as a seal, as we have already had occasion to remark.

(B) IVORY-WORK

Unlike shell, which could be readily picked up on the shores of the Persian Gulf by the inhabitants of the earliest centres of civilization in Lower Mesopotamia, many of which were doubtless seaports in those days, ivory was only procurable elsewhere, and it was not till the dwellers in the valley extended their power outside that they were able to command a supply of this more precious substance, ivory forming one of the principal materials exacted by the later Assyrian kings from their various vassal princes. A large collection of carved ivories discovered in Ashur-na?ir-pal’s palace at NimrÛd (Calah) affords us the desired opportunity for studying the ivory work of the period, and for ascertaining the proficiency to which that art was brought by the artists of that day. What strikes one instantly, and with overwhelming force, about the little group of carved Fig. 84. Fig. 84. ivories in Pl. XXXII is their pronounced Egyptian appearance, a sure and certain indication of the intimate relation which must have subsisted between Egypt and Assyria at this period. In the top right-hand corner we have the head of a woman, represented full-face and with an Egyptian head-gear: the head is set within the frame of a narrow window, from which it looks out over a balcony supported by pillars. In the centre we have the fragment of a similar head, below which there is a bull’s head. In the top left-hand corner we have an ivory plaque upon which is figured an Egyptian king in standing posture, grasping a lotus plant about his own height with his left hand. The plant rests upon a stand, the top of which is shaped volute-wise and resembles the capitals of the columns on the bas-relief from Sippar (cf. Pl. XIV). Below on the left is a carved ivory sphinx, which in style and character is clearly neither Assyrian nor Babylonian. But the most interesting specimen in this group is the carved ivory panel in which two women are seated opposite each other on either side of a cartouche surmounted by a disc and feathers. The cartouche contains Egyptian hieroglyphs which may be read “Uben Shu,” the meaning of which would be “The Sun god riseth,” or the “Rising Sun”: the inside of this cartouche is gilded, and the characters within are inlaid. The feathers, which are likewise inlaid, are the emblem of Maat, the god of truth, and the disc is of course emblematic of the sun. The two women are obviously Egyptian, their head-dresses, the folds in their garments and their general attitude all alike testifying to their Egyptian origin, while beneath their seats, which consist of low-backed chairs, there is the “ankh” sign, the meaning of which is “life.” This sign, misnamed “crux ansata,” or “cross with a handle,” has needless to say nothing whatsoever to do with the Christian symbol; it probably represented a girdle, that which used to be regarded as a handle being that part of the girdle which encircled the waist, the long stem being the loose ends, and a girdle as encircling the vital parts would not unnaturally symbolize life, and in picture-language come to signify it. The two seated figures have one hand raised in token of adoration before the sacred emblems in the middle, while in their other hands they firmly grasp a sceptre. Below we have seven more fragmentary specimens of ivory-work, all of which were discovered amid the ruins of the same palace and betray a strong foreign influence. The deductions which these little ivory carvings justify our making in regard to the foreign affairs of Assyria at this period, are rendered certainties by the evidence afforded by the bronze bowls dealt with in the chapter on Metallurgy.

It must not however be supposed that all the ivories discovered in Assyria are the work of Egyptian or Phoenician artists. Some, of which a good specimen is seen in Fig. 84, are as Assyrian in style and conception as any palace bas-relief. The ivory panel here reproduced is just five inches high. The subject is a familiar one—a four-winged mythological being crowned with a horned cap, with the right hand extended in the performance of some religious ceremony, and carrying a basket in the left hand. Not only is the motif entirely Assyrian in character, but the workmanship and manner of execution bears the unmistakable hall-mark of Assyria. The aggressive masculinity of the arms and legs, the folds, arrangement and style of the garments as well as the hair and strongly depicted beard, are all exactly paralleled in the figures so often seen on the stone sculptures of the period. On either side of the panel in which this mythological creature is enshrined there is a scroll-work device which was employed in Babylonia as early at all events as the time of Entemena of Lagash, while his feet stand upon a line of the rosettes which appear so frequently as a decorative accessory in Assyrian works of art. The lower part of this panel is filled in with circular and volute-shaped devices, and at the bottom of all we have another line of rosettes. Among the various subjects carved on the other ivory panels emanating from the ruins of the same palace the following may be mentioned as of especial interest: a hero slaying a lion, some Assyrians gathering fruit, and Ashur-na?ir-pal accompanied by deities and attendants.

These ivory panels from NimrÛd were as we have seen, in many cases inlaid139 with lapis lazuli and gilded, and they were probably used to decorate and embellish thrones, or other stately articles of furniture, and in this connection we not unnaturally think of the great throne which Solomon built for himself, which is said to have been made of ivory and overlaid with the best gold (cf. 1 Kings x. 18) as also of the ivory palace erected by Ahab.