IT were indeed paradoxical if the Babylonian artists had not invoked the aid of the clay, which they employed so readily and extensively not only in their building operations but also for all ordinary writing purposes, in their attempts to represent human and animal life. Undoubtedly this material was not employed for these purposes so frequently as might have been expected, but this is probably due to the comparative fragility of this substance and its consequent inability to withstand the disintegrating effects of time and climate; as most of the objects fashioned by Babylonian artists would appear to be of a votive character, it is obvious that durability was one of the most important considerations in their production. Notwithstanding this fact however, a sufficiently large number of terra-cotta figures, some of which belong to the earliest periods of Sumerian civilization, have fortunately been preserved. The most ancient of these terra-cotta models are extremely small in size and crude in workmanship. We have a very archaic example in Fig. 85, A. The eyes of this small figure are the most noticeable features; they consist of flattened balls; the bodies of these primitive little models are as unfinished as they can be, sometimes being fashioned merely triangular-wise. In Fig. 85, B, we have another example of the same type and belonging to the same period, though it shows a slight advancement on the preceding figure. A thick head-gear or wig, crowns the head, and in its hands it holds an object of uncertain character, either a child or an instrument of music according to M. Heuzey. The clay, though moulded in the hand, is incised with a number of delicate lines, which are probably due to the application of a sharp and finely pointed tool. These curious figures are about one and a half or two inches high.

The next illustration (Fig. 85, C.) transfers us from the early Sumerian period to that of Gudea. The comparative proficiency attained through long cultivation of the art is sufficiently obvious. The figure is that of a god, his head-gear being characteristically furnished with four pairs of horns, and unlike the copper votive statuettes of Gudea the god here has bull’s ears. The upper part of the body is left bare, but the lower part, which unfortunately is not preserved, was evidently covered by a garment fastened round the waist by a girdle. The god’s left hand has hold of a stick or weapon inserted in the girdle, the upper portion of which is seen in the illustration. As usual, the god wears a heavy beard represented by a series of vertical streaks, but the arrangement of his hair in two long tails hanging down over his chest and curled at the ends, is somewhat peculiar. This little plaque is between two and a half and three inches in height.

The Sumerians of early times did not however confine themselves to a portrayal of single figures in their clay reliefs, but sometimes aspired to complete scenes; thus in the fragment reproduced in Fig. 85, D, we see a standing woman; her hands are raised in a devotional manner, and doubtless were the remainder of this clay relief preserved we should see her accompanied by her husband, as so frequently on the cylinder-seals. Her thick, wavy hair hangs plait-wise down her back, and a raised fillet surrounds her head. The relief in which the woman’s figure is raised is high, and the workmanship, though crude is not without life. This little fragment is about five inches high and is made of grey-coloured clay. Occasionally these terra-cotta figures were painted, as was the case with the little male statuettes discovered at Babylon in 1910.140

Ever faithful in the art of imitation, the Assyrians also turned their attention to the artistic possibilities inherent in the clay which they used alike for the construction of their houses and for writing purposes. Some of the clay figures, or little clay reliefs discovered in Assyria belong without doubt to Assyrian times, but by far the larger half of the terra-cotta figures, lamps and other objects discovered are as certainly post-Assyrian.

Some very interesting terra-cotta figures representing the Fish-god, Dagan, are preserved in the British Museum (cf. Fig. 86, A, B). These small images are only a few inches high, but the humanly conceived face of the god is treated with less conventionalism than is the case with the sculptured portraits of human beings during the Assyrian period, a fact which of course may possibly be due to the plasticity of clay as compared with stone. These little figures are probably Assyrian and not Babylonian in workmanship; at all events, a fish-god sculptured in relief was discovered at the entrance to a small Assyrian temple at NimrÛd, which, apart from other evidence,141 is a clear indication that the fish-god was venerated in Assyria as well as in Babylonia. It would seem reasonable to suppose that the Dagan-cult would naturally find its origin in the alluvial centres of Sumerian civilization in the extreme south of Babylonia, where the water was an all-important factor for good or ill, but according to Jastrow142 it was imported from the north to the south, though the name of a king of Isin, Ishme-Dagan, who reigned about 2200 B.C., shows that the god was known and revered in Babylonia at least as early as his time. On the other hand it is equally noteworthy that one of the earliest known Assyrian kings, whose reign must probably be assigned to the nineteenth century B.C., also bore that name. These clay images of the gods were usually buried as amulets in the foundations of buildings. Another terra-cotta image of a god belonging to the Assyrian period, and the work of an Assyrian artist, is seen in Fig. 86, C.143 This little image was found, together with two other terra-cotta figures, beneath the floor of the court of Sargon’s palace at Khorsabad. Each had been enclosed in a brick capsule as a foundation-amulet, where they remained undisturbed until the spade of Botta brought them once more to light. The figure here reproduced is that of an Assyrian god, while one of the other two was a mythical creature, and the third was a demon, but all three must have been buried for much the same purpose, the god to take care of the positive welfare of the inmates of the palace, the demon to act negatively in warding off evil influences, while they all have their stone counterparts in the bas-reliefs recovered from the ruins of Assyrian palaces. This little image is eight inches high and is made of a greyish clay. The god is clothed in a long robe reaching down to his feet; his head is crowned with a cap encircled by two pairs of horns, and his beard conforms to the usual Assyrian type.144

Various terra-cotta figures of nude women or goddesses have been recovered from different Babylonian and Assyrian sites, but they are for the most part not earlier than the Parthian period, and their consideration does not therefore fall within the scope of the present volume. There are however exceptions to this generalization, one of the most remarkable being that of a terra-cotta figure also preserved in the Louvre and reproduced in Fig. 86, E.145 This little model is reported to have been found at Hillah, near Babylon; the place of its discovery was a Greek grave, but it was found in the company of seals and amulets belonging to a much earlier period. The woman, in a standing position, is seen suckling her infant at her breast. The bodies of the mother and her child both exhibit the characteristic fullness of Eastern art, but in spite of this fact, there is a delicacy and refinement, as well as an insight into the charms of human nature such as is seldom seen in the statues and figures of Oriental antiquity. Various terra-cotta figures of nude women were also discovered at Nippur in the strata of Shar-GÂni-sharri and Ur-Engur, while another interesting example of a nude woman or goddess is seen in Fig. 86, D.146 This little clay figure was discovered during the course of the German excavations at Babylon, a site which has yielded numerous terra-cotta figures of nude women with and without a child; the lower part of the body does not apparently belong to the upper part represented here, but is the broken half of another clay figure; it enables us however to form a better idea of the general appearance of these terra-cottas when complete. Both fragments were recovered in the ruins of the temple of the goddess Nin-Makh, and doubtless formed part of clay miniatures of a stone statue of the goddess, which unfortunately has not yet been brought to light. The figure exhibits a certain heaviness, which the thick tresses of hair only tend to accentuate. The hair itself appears to be carefully waved and curled; the woman’s hands are clasped below her breasts, while she wears bracelets on her wrists and anklets on her legs.

During the same excavations an interesting figure of a bearded man, made of unbaked clay and measuring about six inches high, was found in the temple of Adar; his left arm is hanging down, and his right arm is extended and holds what appears to be a staff, while on his head he wears a Phrygian cap or something akin. A similar clay figure was found in the Anu-Adad temple, but it differed from the former in being provided with a golden staff. The figure was enclosed in what is known as a brick capsule; these capsules were sometimes only a few inches high, but at other times reached as much as twenty inches. These capsuled statuettes were generally located before the entrances to rooms. Sometimes figures of animals as well as of human beings were similarly enshrined in brick capsules; thus a model of a clay dove enclosed in this manner was discovered by the German excavators at Babylon.

Among the most interesting of the Assyrian terra-cotta models must be mentioned those of the favourite hunting-dogs of Ashur-bani-pal (cf. Fig. 87) found in his palace at Nineveh; these same dogs can however be so much more readily studied from the stone bas-reliefs of this same king, that it will be best to forgo any detailed consideration of them here. Unfortunately it is impossible to speak with any confidence as regards the date of the vast majority of clay figures yielded by the excavations in Babylonia and Assyria; they comprise figures of gods and goddesses, as well as of dogs, lions and other animals. Some of these are fashioned in the round, others are portrayed in relief upon small plaques. One of the best preserved of these plaques is reproduced in Fig. 88. This little clay relief was discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson at Birs-NimrÛd. A clean-shaven and semi-nude attendant is in charge of a large hound which he is leading by means of a strap. The attendant, who is armed with a stick, is more life-like than the attendants on the bas-reliefs of Ashur-bani-pal, but the dog, though spirited, cannot compare with those sculptured in hard stone on the palace walls of that same king. The innumerable terra-cotta lamps which have been excavated from time to time for the most part belong to a late period, it is however interesting to note that clay lamps were apparently in use at a very early period, even as early as the time of Bur-Sin, king of Ur (circ. 2350 B.C.), one of whose clay lamps was discovered at Nippur. We have already remarked that clay was probably used extensively for making moulds for casting metal objects, and it is certain that it was sometimes used by the sculptor as a material for rough sketches (cf. p. 118). The clay figures or statuettes of the earlier period were either fashioned by hand, or else stamped in a mould, but in either case they were solid, in contradistinction to the Babylonian terra-cottas of the later Greek and Roman times which were generally hollow in the interior, their outside being coated with a kind of paste by means of which the artist endeavoured to work out the details of hair, clothing, and other externalities, while they were not infrequently covered with a vitreous glaze, the colours used being blue and green. But a consideration of this later work lies beyond the scope of our volume, which is confined to a consideration of the Babylonian and Assyrian period.