Form in Art
The object in question is marked as a Syrian, Bronze Age, stone label seal (c. 3rd- 2nd millennium). Most of the seals I have viewed have much more representational forms on them than this object has. I have not been able to find any books which have pictures of items with this name, which leads me to believe that it has been marked wrong. The object resembles a small, oval shaped bead with indentations in the centers of the longer sides, making it look like the number 8. Both sides have the same, simple decoration of carved lines;(if the object is viewed with the hole through its middle going up to down rather than left to right) two vertical lines in the center and four horizontal lines on either side of these. One side of the object is flat, but the other side is convex. After viewing many pictures of seals and cylinder seals, I find it unusual that this object should be marked as a seal because the design of its decoration is so simple. It seems more likely that this object is what one definition calls a token or "a small, stone or clay bead worn on a string about the neck. Each token was a different size or shape and stood for different business transactions. An impressi
It is like a space to be filled whichever deity can best help with the business at hand. The indentations and line decoration on the token make it resemble a pair of wings. The shape of the token's flat side and rounded side are like a human chest cavity. The difference here is in the figure in the center of the wings. The chest cavity and wings of this goddess sculpture have a very similar shape to the token. This example has more in common with the token metaphorically On this seal the winged sun represents male power; the strength of the lion defeating the other animals. The shape of wings being repeated on a token used for business transactions seems to signify that the concept of wings is important culturally. On the token, there are only two vertical lines between the wing shapes; a figurative "blank space". The lines on the wings of the sculpture radiate down to the edges of the wings like the horizontal lines on the token. One winged Near Eastern goddess, Inanna, was thought to be the bringer of bounty and fertility (2). Though the object is metonymical as a tool, its design and shape are highly metaphorical in their simplicity. Another example of wings being depicted in Syrian art is on a cylinder seal with a winged sun disk and lion attacking animals (1500-1300 BC). The space between those two lines makes the tool have a shifting metaphorical value. There is no actual body represented on the token, only the two lines, as if they are the space where a body could be. This could be a combination of human (skeleton) and spirituality (wings).
Common topics in this essay:
Near Eastern,
Bronze Age,
North Syrian,
,
user tool,
seal winged sun,
chest cavity,
shape wings,
lines token,
seal winged,
2nd millennium,
object metonymical,
syrian culture,
horizontal lines,
pair wings,
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Acceptance Essays
