Cylindrical box fragment with female figures

This broken piece of carved ivory was probably part of a small cylindrical box, called a pyxis by scholars. Boxes of this type could have held precious goods including luxurious commodities such as spices, incense, cosmetics, perfumes or ointments. Two figures are partially preserved, shown standing in rectangular spaces bordered by an incised decorative motif that resembles abstract leaves or palm fronds. At left, the head and partial upper body of a figure can be seen with a mass of curled hair that falls to the shoulder, held back by a beaded diadem, wearing an elaborately decorated garment. The eye and ear are large and the full cheek is delicately modeled. At right, another figure is shown holding several lotus buds in the upraised right hand. The head, feet, and left arm are missing, but the pleated long garment belted at the waist is well-preserved, and two locks of straight hair can be seen falling against the chest. The hairstyles of the two figures and their beardlessness suggests they are female. This fragment comes from a well in the Northwest Palace at Nimrud, where many finely carved ivories were found during the excavations of the palace. The ivories were probably thrown in the well during the sack of the Assyrian palace buildings at Nimrud at the time of Assyria’s final defeat in 612 B.C.

Built by the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II, the palaces and storerooms of Nimrud housed thousands of pieces of carved ivory. Most of the ivories served as furniture inlays or small precious objects such as boxes. While some of them were carved in the same style as the large Assyrian reliefs lining the walls of the Northwest Palace, the majority of the ivories display images and styles related to the arts of North Syria and the Phoenician city-states. Phoenician style ivories are distinguished by their use of imagery related to Egyptian art, such as sphinxes and figures wearing pharaonic crowns, and the use of elaborate carving techniques such as openwork and colored glass inlay. North Syrian style ivories tend to depict stockier figures in more dynamic compositions, carved as solid plaques with fewer added decorative elements. However, some pieces do not fit easily into any of these three styles. Most of the ivories were probably collected by the Assyrian kings as tribute from vassal states, and as booty from conquered enemies, while some may have been manufactured in workshops at Nimrud. The ivory tusks that provided the raw material for these objects were almost certainly from African elephants, imported from lands south of Egypt, although elephants did inhabit several river valleys in Syria until they were hunted to extinction by the end of the eighth century B.C.