6.2.10 Furniture plaque carved in high relief with two Egyptianizing figures flanking a volute tree

Description

This carving was made to decorate a piece of furniture. Because of the artist’s style, art historians think that it was made in a Phoenician city. But archaeologists found this plaque in the treasury of a Neo-Assyrian emperor in Nimrud, Mesopotamia. The carving shows a lot of Egyptian influence. The two figures have Egyptian double crowns on their heads. Their bodies face forward but their heads and feet are turned to the side, just as Egyptian artists carved figures. Copying artistic styles is another effect of contact between different societies. The plaque was carved from ivory, which came from sub-Saharan Africa.