The deep fringe style

Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati – July 2000, June 2025

[TOC] add pleated procession, add Innin Shadu (p. 23)

Introduction

The characteristics of this style include deep fringe depicted in the middle of a long garment or alternatively this fringe can be at the edge of the garment. Pleated garments as in A5.91 can be deeply cut also. While animals are seldom represented in this style when they are the bodies of animals are depicted, as are humans, to some extent realistically. In A5.180 we see large oval eyes in the animals but the dot of the eye is not in the center as in the Dotted Eye style. This is also the carving style of the animals in the A5 composit A5.c1 Where the human also has a dot in the eye not positioned in the center composit includes A5.96, A5.101, A5.97, A5.99.1, and A5q90.2 (may be A5q790.2 see notes to Jessica.

In this style there is often a wide even spacing among all of the figures. The heads of the human figures are large in proportion to the rest of the body and the noses are carved as a triangle. Often the human eyes are carved in just a dotted circle and not as large as in the Dotted Eye style. Priests often have prominent lips, for example see A15.270 NOT IN FIELD NUMBER LIST. The feet are depicted by long thin lines with triangular shaped ankles. Human faces can have triangular shaped noses.

Beards are rarely shown on human figures but when portrayed on human men or deities can be long and narrow, for instance see A1.483 and A5-A7 banquet scene composit (A5. 91, A7.257, A7.312).

This style includes three of the Queens lyre scenes (qu4, qu6, and qu7. Her other lyre scene, qu8, is poorly preserved.

The detail of the fringe in Uqnitum’s lyre scenes can be seen for instance in q4 where the singer and the two standing attendants have the fringe carved as a long line of short diagonals down the middle of their garments; this pattern is clearly visible and contributes to the sense of the style. The queen too is wearing a garment with rows of deep pleats carved in her garment.

This patterning in the carving of the sides of the relief is also used in other scenes in addition to the queen’s lyre scenes. A5.135 NOT IN Cat by field # is an animal combat scene in which the mane of what presumably are two lions is carved in this manner, that is more realistically and we see this emphasized by the placement of the foot of a nude figure on this mane. Another animal combat carved in this style is A5q845.2. In this large animals are fighting; one is a lion with open mouth whose mane over his head and down his back is carved in this Deep Fringe style of short diagonal lines but here these are emphasized by also patterning of the ruff extending beyond the lion’s neck.

Iconography

The iconography used in this style can also be seen in a king’s seal, K2. The fringe of the small figure of the crown prince and the ruff of the lion are deeply carved but the eye of this figure is large as they eyes in the Dotted Eye style. The standing figure has a face and head carved in a more natural manner so that there is a natural proportion between the eye, nose and lips. The gesture of lap touching of the crown prince is emphasized by being placed parallel to the arm of the king, elongated and the elbow bent.

the arm and hand of the prince are exaggerated as they touch the lap of the king, just as in the two queen scenes with the lyre player the arm of one of the attendants is elongated. It appears then that an important aspect of the royal scenes e as shown in the seal is exaggerated and that if a larger attendant who is doing something other than touching the lap then that is the most important. However if only touching the lap is present then that is the portion exaggerated. The star in this scene is very beautifully rendered.

A variation of the worship theme is found in A1.241 which is carved in this style in this case too the most important gestures are emphasized by being elongated. Therefore the arm of the deity is extended out and up holding the cup the arm of the figure on the other side of the altar is both extended so that the hand touches the altar; this last gesture is emphasized by the fact that above this arm is a crescent with a dot inside.

Both the lyre scenes are rendered in this style and have the usual characteristics of elongation of the most important arm, facial features, feet and ankles, carving of the fringe, even and measured placement of the figures across the surface of the design. One of the most beautiful rollings excavated in this building A1.237 is carved in this style

Banquet scene

Another scene rendered in this style is a banquet scene where there is a seated person holding a cup in front of whom is a standing figure who also holds a cup (composit A5.91, A7.257, A7.312,perhaps A9.33 CKCKCK). The pleated garment of the seated figure shows clearly the pleats in the thickness of the relief as it goes under the figure seated on the stool. One foot of the standing figure is preserved and is depicted in the same triangular way as typical for the Deep Fringe style.

Themes

The variation in the themes carved in this style can also be seen in the landscape A5.115. It is included in this style not only because of the way the small tree is carved but also because of the emphasis on movement in the animal’s position. In a scene with a birdman (A1.325) there are two unclear figures, next is a birdman with behind a human with a deep pleated skirt and raised arm. While the entire composition is not clear, the carving of the wings of the bird man and the garments of the other three figures are clearly in this style. Another animal scene in this style is A5q680 with a composition showing a line of animals, some overlapping. The scene shows what appears to be an animal herd with three larger horned animals behind a smaller horned animal with a long tail, probably a goat. The scene includes parts of what appears to be two eagles. The mane of the horned animals is accentuated at the edge of the bodies and the horns are thick and curving. The two large birds have long and sharply terminated wing feathers. The animals eyes are either oval or circular and have no dots in the center. The figures are very small as it must have been a small seal; the preserved portion we have is only 1 cm high but since we only have a portion of the original it must have been somewhat higher but not appreciably so.

Conclusion: the globular scene

The compositional effect of the placement of a small prince before the king is to leave more space in front of the upper portion of the king, therefore empnasizing the king. The even distribution of the figures across the surface of the design appears to me “classic” in the sense of an evenly measured, dignified and even solemn progression across the design. This especially seems appropriate in the case of the royal scenes. In other types of scenes such as the animal combat and the landscape a more varied composition is used which is more appropriate to these motifs.